Violent Extremism

TRANSITION 2017
POLICY NOTES FOR THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
REUTERS/LUCAS JACKSON
DEFEATING IDEOLOGICALLY INSPIRED

VIOLENT EXTREMISM
A Strategy to Build Strong Communities and Protect the U.S. Homeland
REPORT OF A BIPARTISAN
WASHINGTON INSTITUTE STUDY GROUP
Matthew Levitt, Editor
“This bipartisan Washington Institute report on preventing and countering violent

extremism represents a balanced, sensible, and comprehensive strategy for reducing
terrorist recruitment. The report does not shrink from identifying the dangerous role
played by the political ideology of extremist Islamism, as distinct from Islam itself. At
the same time, it correctly notes the rising threats posed by other forms of political
extremism, as typified by the recent wave of threats and attacks against Jews and
other minorities. As the study makes clear, we need a strategic effort to blunt and, if
necessary, reverse violent radicalization.”
—MICHAEL CHERTOFF
U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security
George W. Bush Administration
TH E WA SH I N GTON I NSTITUTE FOR N E A R E A ST POLIC Y ■ NO. 37 ■ M A RCH 2017

P O L I C Y N OTES FO R TH E TRU M P A D M I N I STR ATI O N
Preface Here in the homeland, the FBI reports it is running

more than nine hundred counterterrorism investiga-
Speaking at his inauguration, President Donald Trump tions related to the Islamic State alone across all fifty
vowed to “unite the civilized world” against what he states, reinforcing the critical need to counter Islamist
described as “radical Islamic terrorism.”1 Doing so extremism. But any serious and effective effort to coun-
will require a multifaceted strategy involving a range ter the violent extremist ideology driving groups like the
of tools across military, intelligence, law enforcement, Islamic State and al-Qaeda must be part of a larger
diplomacy, and other toolkits. Within the United States, counter-violent-extremism strategy targeting the full
the key to defeating jihadist terrorism will be to do so as range of Islamist and other violent extremist ideologies
part of a holistic effort targeting the full range of ideo- posing security threats to America. Indeed, law enforce-
logically driven violent extremist groups.2 And to get ment agencies across the country tend to be at least
ahead of the curve and prevent the next homegrown as concerned about political violence carried out by
violent extremist from being radicalized, it will be critical antigovernment violent extremists as they are by Islamist
to empower communities on the frontlines of defense extremists, if not more so.7
against homegrown violent extremism and build trust- In the United States, preventing and countering violent
ing partnerships with and within local communities to extremism (P/CVE) became a priority policy issue over
prevent and counter violent extremism. the past few years as a result of these events around the
The Washington Institute is uniquely positioned to world and as a consequence of radicalization and ter-
provide this bipartisan study group report on Defeat- rorism in the homeland, starting with the Boston Mara-
ing Ideologically Inspired Extremism: A Strategy toBuild thon bombing. CVE pilot programs aimed at countering
Strong Communities and Protect the U.S. Homeland.3 violent extremism were set up in Boston, Minneapolis,
Over the past several years, Washington Institute and Los Angeles. An Office of Community Partnerships
scholars have authored numerous articles and analy- was established at the Department of Homeland Secu-
ses on the pressing need to complement strong U.S. rity in September 2015,8 and an interagency CVE Task
military and intelligence counterterrorism (CT) efforts Force led by the Departments of Homeland Security
with equally muscular initiatives to counter the violent and Justice was established in January 2016 as well.9
extremism underlying the terrorist threats the United Communities across the country are looking into ways
States faces today. Anchoring these reports are two of countering extremist ideology and building resilient
major group studies the Institute led: Rewriting the Nar- communities.10 The Department of Homeland Security
rative: An Integrated Strategy for Counterradicalization dispatched regional coordinators to two key cities, and
(2009)4 and Fighting the Ideological Battle: The Miss- these have underscored how regionally and locally dis-
ing Link in U.S. Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism tinct radicalization patterns can be. Across the country,
(2010).5 U.S. Attorneys led hundreds of community-engagement-
Since these two blue-ribbon studies, the world has related events on a host of issues, to include prevent-
become more dangerous still. The Arab Spring and ing and countering violent extremism.11 There are many
failed governance in the Middle East have produced constants, however, including the fact that in an era of
instability and insecurity across the region. The Syrian mass social media and digital communication, ideolog-
civil war and a lack of political reform in Iraq fanned the ical radicalization and then mobilization to violence (the
flames of sectarianism across the region. And the rise of “flash to bang” ratio) is faster than ever. In light of the
the so-called Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) pressing national security threats facing the homeland,
has led to war crimes and genocide and a wave foreign there has never been a greater need for smart, strong
terrorist fighters flocking to the region from more than policies and programs that enable the United States to
a hundred countries around the world.6 Some believe get ahead of the curve on countering Islamist and other
they are rebuilding the Caliphate, others are drawn to forms of violent extremism.
a jihadist battle, but nearly all are further radicalized by A foundation exists upon which a smart and strong P/
the experience. Some travelers have returned home to CVE infrastructure can be built here in the United States,
carry out terrorist attacks in the West. Still other indi- which is something law enforcement officials have been
viduals are radicalized and inspired to conduct attacks eager to see for some time now. To be sure, many mis-
in their home countries. takes were made getting to this point and much more
2 T H E WA S H I N GTO N I N S T I T U T E F O R N E A R E A S T P O L I C Y
D E F E A T I N G I D E O L O G I C A L LY I N S P I R E D V I O L E N T E X T R E M I S M
needs to be done. The chair of the House Homeland In October 2016, the Washington Institute convened
Security Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), has this study group on preventing and countering violent
described CVE efforts to date as “failed” and vowed to extremism in the homeland. The CVE study group is a
“repeal and replace” these with something new.12 Tes- bipartisan group made up of eight experts. Four outside
tifying before the committee, CVE Task Force director experts—two from each major political party—have
George Selim agreed that despite all the progress the worked alongside four members from The Washington
brand new task force had achieved, there is no question Institute’s Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intel-
that “more work remains.”13 ligence. The outside experts are Rand Beers, Adnan
What this study offers here is a bipartisan proposal Kifayat, Samantha Ravich, and Eric Rosand. The four
for how to improve P/CVE efforts to best protect Ameri- Washington Institute staff members include Matthew
can communities from violent Islamist and other forms Levitt, Katherine Bauer, Jacob Olidort, and Aaron Zelin.
of violent extremism that drive the terrorist threats facing A list of the group members and their bios follows this
the country, while fully respecting the civil liberties all memo as an addendum. Dr. Levitt served as the study
Americans hold dear. group’s convener and the report’s primary drafter.
While the United States has led the fight against al- The study group drew on a series of seventeen CVE-
Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, it has not themed roundtable discussions The Washington Insti-
yet developed a cohesive way of describing the spec- tute convened over the past year to explore cutting-
trum of ideologically driven violent extremist threats at edge research, challenges in implementation, and fault
home nor sufficiently consolidated its lines of effort to lines in naming and framing the issues at hand. The
either preempt or stop them. To adequately address the discussions were held under the Chatham House Rule
threat of Islamist and other forms of violent extremism, and allowed for a full range of CVE stakeholders—
the Trump administration should develop an integrated from academics to community practitioners to federal
strategy to both prevent and counter violent extremism agents, analysts, and policymakers—to speak candidly
that adapts to these changing circumstances. and engage in robust debate. The study group then fol-
A P/CVE strategy would include both efforts aimed lowed up on these roundtable discussions with a series
at preventing violent extremism in the first place and of small group briefings with key stakeholders—govern-
countering extremism when prevention efforts fall ment officials, congressional staff, CVE practitioners,
short. Under a holistic P/CVE strategy, the federal gov- law enforcement and intelligence officials, and more—
ernment should support local public-private partner- so that study group members could exchange ideas
ships focused on (1) building resilience within commu- with these experts, develop a holistic perspective on
nities to promote public safety and preventing violent the problem set, and think through proposed solutions.
extremist ideologies from taking root (PVE program- Over a period of six weeks, the study group held sixteen
ming), and (2) promoting and facilitating community- sessions with representatives from the executive branch,
led intervention programs focused on countering radi- Congress, the NGO community, and the private sector.
calization and recruitment (CVE programming). In both This report is the product of a months-long effort,
cases, it is important that P/CVE efforts maintain con- including weeks of writing, drafting, editing, and critiqu-
nective tissue to law enforcement partners—whether ing; it reflects the broad, bipartisan consensus of the
local, state, or federal—but are not wholly securitized. study group members. Not every signatory endorses
They must also be aimed at promoting public safety every judgment or recommendation in the report: mem-
overall and address a spectrum of threats, from radi- bers have endorsed this report solely in their individual
cal Islamist extremism to far-right and far-left extrem- capacities, and their endorsements do not necessarily
ists as well. These should be framed in terms of what reflect those of the institutions with which they are affili-
communities themselves see as their local priority con- ated. Finally, this report does not necessarily reflect the
cerns and should be built upon existing frameworks views of The Washington Institute, its Board of Trustees,
and programs wherever possible. or its Board of Advisors.
© 2 017 T h e Wa s h i n g t o n I n s t i t u t e f o r N e a r E a s t Po l i c y 3
need for CVE to become more of a whole-

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A RY of-society movement to build resilient com-
munities able to push back against vio-
lent Islamist and other forms of extremism
T
rump administration officials made clear early on and inoculate themselves against radical ideologies.16
that countering the ideology driving groups like Indeed, desperate for tools to deal with this problem set
the Islamic State and al-Qaeda will be a high pri- short of arresting people, and seeing a need for greater
ority for this administration. Some of the political cor- local involvement that was not being met by local service
rectness of the past few years, such as the discomfort agencies or community organizations, the FBI launched
with referring to acts of jihadist terrorism or to Islamist a short-lived “shared responsibility committees” initiative
extremism, will clearly be dispensed with in favor of in 2016. Though flawed, and quickly disbanded, the ini-
blunt language calling out Islamism—a radical politi- tiative points to the importance for law enforcement of
cal ideology separate from Islam as a religion—as the finding ways to partner with local communities.17
extremist ideology posing the most challenging threat Aiming for just such a whole-of-society solution, this
to U.S. security. Already, reports have emerged that study group prefers the term “preventing and counter-
the administration is considering doing away with the ing violent extremism” (P/CVE) because it covers the
term “countering violent extremism” in favor of “coun- full spectrum of activities necessary to get the job done.
tering Islamic extremism” or “countering radical Islamic A comprehensive plan to counter Islamist and other
extremism.”14 To be sure, Islamist extremism poses an forms of radicalization should include both preventive
immediate threat to U.S. security, but any serious and measures intended to inhibit radicalization from taking
effective effort to counter the extremist ideology driv- hold within communities in the first place as well as
ing groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda must be measures meant to counter the process of radicalization
part of a larger strategy to prevent and counter the full affecting an individual when it does occur. The former
range of Islamist and other extremist ideologies posing focuses on the community, the latter on the individual.
security threats to the United States. And the reason is Distinguishing between the two allows for the com-
not ideological; it is practical and programmatic and monsense application of a public-health-style model to
has to do with how good-governance and public safety community-led prevention while maintaining the abil-
programs actually work on the ground in local commu- ity to forge connective tissue between law enforcement
nities across the country. Communities are our first line and community service organizations when it comes to
of defense against violent extremism, so empowering interventions. Broader community-led efforts can thus
and incentivizing communities to become more active in be largely desecuritized, while those efforts addressing
this space is in the local and national interest. individuals already on the path to radicalization can
It is refreshing, however, for an administration to be still be run in such a way as to address the legitimate
focused on countering violent extremism from the out- equities of both the public health and law enforcement
set. Countering violent extremism (or counterradicaliza- communities. This also allows for clearer distinctions
tion, as it had previously been known) was not a priority between that which is P/CVE-relevant and that which is
issue during the first half of the Obama administration, P/CVE-specific.
though the Bush administration’s 2006 National Imple- The question is how to build a P/CVE architecture that
mentation Plan called out, as one of its pillars, the need more effectively balances and addresses both national
to “counter violent Islamic extremism” (CVIE, an acro- security and community cohesion concerns, builds trust
nym shortened to CVE under the Obama administra- among all stakeholders, confronts all forms of violent
tion).15 The Obama White House issued an anemic and extremism threatening communities across the country,
unfunded CVE strategy in 2011, but it was only after and is programmatically sustainable and scalable. In the
the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, carried out by words of former Boston Police commissioner Edward F.
homegrown Islamist extremists inspired by al-Qaeda, Davis III, “More than ever before, relationships between
that CVE became a policy priority. Driven by national law enforcement partners, stakeholders and community
security concerns, CVE has over the past several years members need to be in place to prevent attacks.”18
been increasingly securitized, even as academic stud- This study group suggests a few guiding principles for
ies and U.S. government reports have underscored the achieving these goals:
■■ Adopt the term P/CVE—representing the full spec- mental health, and personal problems) and “pull
trum of activities aimed at preventing and counter- factors” (kinship, radical ideology, and narratives)
ing violent extremism—and explain where P/CVE play roles in radicalization and mobilization toward
sits in relation to counterterrorism. Fighting terror- violence and that their relative importance will vary
ism requires both tactical efforts to thwart attacks from case to case. For example, the shooting attack
and strategic efforts to counter the extremist radi- carried out by Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood was not
calization that fuels its hatred and violence and a “tragic attack” or a case of “workplace violence”
undergirds its strategy and global appeal. P/CVE is but instead a terrorist attack inspired by Islamist
not a counterterrorism tool as such, but is a parallel extremist ideology.
and complementary policy option for dealing with
■■ Break down the spectrum of efforts to prevent and
disconcerting but not illegal activities that occur in
counter violent extremism into three distinct catego-
the pre-criminal space. It also can play an impor-
ries addressing prevention, intervention, and reha-
tant role in the post-criminal space of rehabilitation
bilitation/reintegration. At the front end, efforts to
and reintegration. P/CVE efforts reduce the pool
build resilience within communities against extrem-
of potential terrorist recruits across the spectrum
ism would be categorized as preventing violent
of violent extremist ideologies. And, equally impor-
extremism (PVE) and focused at the community
tant, P/CVE reinforces, rather than runs counter
level. This would include a wide array of programs
to, community cohesion while addressing national
and initiatives that are clearly CVE-related but
security concerns.
are not CVE-specific. The application of a public-
■■ Define P/CVE so that it is clear what is P/CVE-rel- health-style model could be beneficial in the PVE
evant and what is P/CVE-specific. To date, “CVE” space, including the model’s three-tiered approach
has been so broadly defined that it can include to: (1) prevent exposure in the first place, (2) look
everything from building playgrounds in “at risk” for preclinical signs of infection, and (3) deal with
neighborhoods, to running localized intervention exposure if and when it happens. This last stage is
programs for people drawn to violent extremist ide- more applicable to the broad middle of the counter-
ologies, to rehabilitating people convicted on ter- violent-extremism spectrum, which includes those
rorism charges or returning foreign terrorist fight- efforts that are CVE-specific and focus on counter-
ers. Breaking out those parts of P/CVE aimed at ing radicalization and recruitment at the individual
preventing violent extremism from those aimed at level. Key here are local intervention programs that
countering violent extremism is critical. maintain strong connective tissue to law enforce-
ment but are not wholly securitized. Toward the
■■ Place P/CVE within the larger context of building
back end of P/CVE lies another important area:
community resilience against violent extremism and
rehabilitation and reintegration programs for indi-
within existing public safety and emergency man-
viduals who were radicalized and are now returning
agement infrastructure, while establishing effective,
from prison or foreign travel and reentering soci-
trustworthy channels between community programs
ety. Finally, efforts to prevent and counter extrem-
and local, state, and federal law enforcement.
ism in the homeland cannot be fully separated from
■■ Identify the extremist ideologies—from jihadism to what is occurring overseas. Defeating foreign ter-
white supremacism to leftist-inspired ethnocentric rorist groups and bankrupting their ideology is a
movements and more—as a key driver of radical- powerful component to stemming the appeal these
ization and mobilization to violence, while acknowl- groups will have to potential recruits, whether they
edging that both “push factors” (local grievances, are abroad or within the United States.
journalists and academic commu-

A N E W T H R E AT E N V I R O N M E N T nities in the country. The ouster of
Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi
left a power vacuum into which various jihadist militias
O
ver the past several years, the terrorist threat have entered. Iraq continued along its earlier course,
environment facing the United States and and became even more polarized and violent follow-
its allies has evolved into something more ing the tenure of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who
dangerous and complicated than ever before, with drew enmity for privileging Shiite voices in the country. In
implications for both international and domestic secu- Yemen, the exit of President Ali Abdullah Saleh created
rity. It should not surprise, for example, that Jordan’s a power and governance vacuum where both al-Qaeda
King Abdullah discussed the importance of counter- in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Houthi reb-
ing violent extremism with U.S. secretary of Homeland els took advantage. There, too, a civil war has become
Security John Kelly when the king visited Washington in increasingly sectarian and a battleground for pitting
January 2017, just days after the inauguration of Presi- regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran against each
dent Donald Trump.19 The new secretary of Homeland other. Similarly, in Bahrain conflict between the Sunni
Security has reason to be concerned, given that the ter- ruling family and the country’s Shiite majority popula-
rorist threats from homegrown violent extremists have tion has led to mass protests, a military crackdown, and
increased significantly. For example, of the 101 Islamic Iranian support to local Shiite militants.
State–related indictments in the United States between
March 2014 and June 2016, 78 defendants were U.S.
citizens.20 The threats from jihadist groups specifically, The Syrian Conflict
and of violent extremism more broadly, have both mul-
Bashar al-Assad sparked a civil war with his brutal
tiplied and become more complex, particularly with the
response to peaceful protests, which included the use
tectonic political and security shifts in the Middle East,
of barrel bombs and chemical weapons against his
the media and Internet landscapes, communications
own population. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, which
technology, and domestic public security threats.
are home to sizable Sunni and Shiite populations alike,
gave some the impression of being timeless sectar-
The Arab Uprisings ian conflicts. Besides helping feed jihadist causes, this
has also created obstacles in the U.S. administration’s
and Failed States
efforts to build local coalitions. In Syria, al-Qaeda’s
Beginning in December 2010, local populations in front group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat
the Middle East initiated a series of political uprisings al-Nusra and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham), has positioned
that led to the eventual collapse of regional states. itself as the most formidable alternative to the Assad
The results of these efforts—first known as the Arab regime by entrenching itself within local communities
Spring (later the Arab uprisings)—were mixed at best, and consistently merging with otherSunni militias.
with Tunisia’s struggling unity government being the In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham
success story. While demonstrations were suppressed (ISIS) renamed itself the Islamic State (IS) when it claimed
in the Gulf states, their successes elsewhere produced a “caliphate” that transcended local political borders
further instability and insecurity. In Egypt, the birth- and identities. Today, the Islamic State perpetuates its
place of Sunni Islamism, the ouster of President Hosni transregional and transnational brand through the ter-
Mubarak made way for the Muslim Brotherhood, which ritories it still controls in Syria and Iraq and its territorial
had long been outlawed in the country and had gained “provinces” around the world. The strongest independent
the trust of local communities because of its ability to forces positioned to oust IS from the area are Kurdish
provide social services. However, when the govern- militias, some of which do not seek a unified Iraq, and
ment of Mohamed Morsi centralized power, it too was Iran-backed Shiite militias. In its final year, the Obama
overthrown, in 2013, by the military under Abdul Fattah administration struggled to build and train an effective
al-Sisi, who currently oversees a police state that penal- local fighting force while avoiding supporting sectarian
izes the fractured Islamist and jihadist groups as well as or nefarious ambitions among these various groups.
The Media and Internet ties turned their focus to identifying “lone wolves” (or,
Landscape the preferred term, “lone actors”)—individuals at risk
of becoming susceptible to ideologically driven extrem-
These large-scale political changes took place dur- ist groups both at home and abroad. Aside from atten-
ing and as a result of large-scale changes in the tion to directed and “inspired” attacks, IS has also
media environment. Chief among these was the use encouraged the migration of non-Arabs to Iraq and
of social media as a new basis of transborder commu- Syria to help its territorial project—some as fighters,
nication, on-the-ground reporting, and propaganda. but many also hoping to live what they naively believed
This opening that the new media landscape created to be “purely Islamic” lives. Foreign fighters numbered
for journalists and activists through platforms such in the tens of thousands, with some estimates showing
as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube created similarly double growth in these figures between 2014 and 2015
unprecedented openings for more nefarious groups from Western states. This phenomenon prompted new
and individuals to spread their message. These new concerns in policy and U.S. government circles about
spaces of communication and media have also facili- the nature and scale of the threat these fighters might
tated tactical changes by groups such as IS, includ- pose if and when they return to their countries of ori-
ing the new threat of “influencers” (jihadist voices who gin, drawing parallels with Afghanistan in the 1980s.
may or may not have any formal ties with major jihad- Skeptics, however, warn that while directed terrorist
ist groups but who disseminate jihadist material and attacks against the West may increase, those indi-
rhetoric) and the mirror effect of individuals becom- viduals specifically migrating to Syria pose a different
ing either “inspired” or “radicalized” by consuming risk from those who flocked to Afghanistan because
this material from their computers, without necessarily the former do so for a range of nonviolent reasons
having any direct links to jihadist clerics or groups. IS as well as violent ones, leading in turn to the pos-
has also pioneered an effective outreach strategy in sibility of disillusionment with the entire IS enterprise.
which its operatives engage on a personal and con- Meanwhile, the influx of Iran-supported Shiite foreign
sistent basis with disaffected individuals, with the aim fighters into Syria is also cause for concern. Indeed,
of recruiting them to join IS and/or commit terrorist it must be noted that while most people focus on the
acts on its behalf. In part due to innovations in terror- Sunni foreign fighter phenomenon, there are at least
ist adoption of new technologies and messaging tech- as many Shiite foreign fighters in Syria today. Most
niques, the radicalization process itself is now often are from Iraq, but others have come from as far afield
much faster than it was before the explosion of social as Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cote d’Ivoire, and
media technology and platforms.21 even Australia.
Foreign Fighters, Public Safety Threats

Returning Fighters, from Other Ideologically Based
and Inspired Attacks Extremist Groups
The proximity of the bloody conflicts in Syria and Concurrent with the growing threat of homegrown
Iraq, combined with the propaganda and recruitment jihadist violence and individuals attempting to fight in
efforts by IS, has broadened the kinds of threats ema- conflict zones, there has been a sharp rise in people
nating from jihadist groups. In addition to the directed joining or sympathizing with extreme right-wing ide-
terrorist attacks for which al-Qaeda was long known, ologies.22 In the words of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX),
authorities are now contending with attacks initiated chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee,
by individuals with no direct links to a foreign terrorist “As we’ve seen recently in France, Tunisia, Kuwait, and
organization, which came to be known as “inspired even right here at home in places like Garland, TX,
attacks.” In fact, the perpetrators of several attacks and Charleston, SC, violent extremism comes in many
around the world have claimed inspiration from both forms. Violent extremists show no mercy when execut-
al-Qaeda and IS ideologues. With the rise of foreign- ing their evil plots, or when luring in vulnerable recruits
inspired and enabled but not directed attacks, authori- and brainwashing them.”23 Indeed, the past few years
have seen several major incidents tied to extremist Staff.31 As the administration laid out the bare bones
far-right groups: the Bundy Ranch standoff, the South of a federal CVE policy, a smattering of federal, state,
Carolina Methodist church shooting, and the murder and local actors began to address issues of violent
of Muslim students at the University of North Carolina, extremism in their own communities. Working with the
among others.24 There has also been a steep rise in Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National
hate crimes, in particular focusing on Jewish Ameri- Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) rolled out the Com-
cans.25 Moreover, while many have been concerned munity Awareness Briefing (CAB) and Community
with the presence of IS on Twitter, the number of Nazis Resilience Exercise (CREX) programs.32 These initia-
on Twitter currently exceeds IS at the latter’s peak in tives became the preferred means of federal engage-
2014. Between 2012 and 2016, Nazi usage on Twit- ment with local communities on CVE, but were wholly
ter grew 600 percent.26 According to a recent study insufficient both in terms of programmatic maturity
based on a decade of data collection, it appears that and scalability.33
“far-right extremists tend to be more active in commit- The Boston Marathon bombing in the spring of
ting homicides, yet Islamist extremists tend to be more 2013 was a watershed event, prompting a turning point
deadly.”27 Therefore, while a continued focus on jihad- in Washington’s CVE discussions. The bombers acted
ist extremism is absolutely necessary, officials should without any direction from al-Qaeda leadership, but
not ignore or neglect other extremist groups and ide- demonstrated how serious the threat now was from
ologies that could bring harm to our communities inspired homegrown violent extremists (HVEs). Across
and country. the executive branch, reports and testimonies in the
following year featured a renewed
call for community-based CVE
efforts in the homeland.34, 35, 36, 37
T H E E A R LY M A K I N G S O F A In September 2014, the Depart-
ment of Justice announced the
DOMESTIC CVE INFRASTRUCTURE “Three City Pilot” program. The
program held up three cities—Bos-
ton, Minneapolis, and Los Ange-
A
s the threat from homegrown violent extremism les—as leaders in CVE, and tasked them with conven-
has grown, the U.S. government has broadened ing local stakeholders to develop CVE strategies for
its policy optic and expanded its infrastructure their communities.38
to address the challenge of homegrown radicalization. In February 2015, President Barack Obama held
In 2009, a series of Somali-Americans left their Minne- a CVE Summit with leaders at the local, federal, and
sota homes to fight with the al-Shabab jihadist group international levels.39 Thereafter, the administration
in Somalia, triggering federal attention. A congressio- spearheaded the establishment of new government ini-
nal hearing on al-Shabab recruitment in the United tiatives such as the DHS’s Office of Community Part-
States was held that year, and in 2010, the Homeland nerships (September 2015) and a DHS-housed CVE
Security Advisory Council published its recommenda- Task Force (January 2016).40 The DHS Homeland
tions to counter homegrown violent extremism.28, 29 An Security Advisory Council released a report laying the
executive call to action came in August 2011, when groundwork for new programs like a CVE grants pro-
the Obama White House released its first CVE strat- gram in June 2016,41 and the following month the CVE
egy report followed by its first Strategic Implementa- Task Force rolled out its first grants program. Some $10
tion Plan (SIP) on counterradicalization. The 2011 SIP million was awarded for domestic CVE practitioners in
emphasized community-led program development, January 2017 before the Trump Administration took
with U.S. Attorneys leading the federal effort on the office,42 though some recipients have since declined to
ground. In February 2013, the White House moved
30
accept grants they competed for and won over con-
further toward a coordinated effort by establishing the cerns about anti-Muslim rhetoric and the direction of
Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radi- P/CVE policy.43
calization to Violence, chaired by the National Security The FBI initiated its own public CVE efforts in Octo-
ber and November 2015 with its online “Don’t Be ment and national security departments (in par-
a Puppet” online educational initiative and Shared ticular, strengthening the “fusion centers” estab-
Responsibility Committees (SRCs).44 The Justice lished during the Bush administration under the
Department reportedly ended the SRC program in auspices of the Homeland Security and Justice
October 2016 after fierce criticism by civil rights orga- Departments), the U.S. government has worked
nizations, and the online tool was criticized too,45 but to counter the message of the Islamic State over-
they underscored the importance law enforcement seas through the work of the State Department’s
agencies give to the need for effective violence- and Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communi-
terrorism-prevention programs.46 The FBI appears cations, whose counterpropaganda performance
to still be running SRC-style programs in some loca- received poor ratings at a panel review in Decem-
tions.47 In October 2016, the White House released ber 2015. The State Department has expanded
an updated CVE SIP, with major changes being a new its effor ts in this realm, with its new Global
focus on interventions, reintegration/rehabilitation Engagement Center coordinating its efforts in
programs, public-private collaboration, and an explicit countermessaging and stopping online exposure
call for resources. to extremist content by working with partners in
This renewed focus on CVE efforts quickly under- the region (e.g., the Sawab Center and Hedayah
scored several emerging challenges, including: in the United Arab Emirates) as well as partner-
ing closely with Google’s Jigsaw, Facebook, and
NE W TA RGE TS OF COUNTE R ING VIOLE NT
Twitter to develop strategies for handling jihadist
EXTREMISM. W ith the introduction of CVE as a
online content and communications. Other coun-
policy objective came new subjects of focus for
termessaging efforts are taking place within the
U.S. government efforts. With the popularity of
social media (and the Islamic State’s pioneering Defense Department and the intelligence com-
use of it), the U.S. government broadened its focus munity that should be assessed and, where found
from terrorist networks to HVEs and “self-radi- productive, expanded.
calized” or “inspired” individuals. This new cat- DEFECTORS AND COUNTERR ADICALIZATION.
egory was exemplified by the Boston Marathon Aside from its counterpropaganda efforts, the
bombers in April 2013; Syed Rizwan Farook and U.S. government has coordinated with its Mid-
Tashfeen Malik, who killed fourteen people in San dle East and European partners to develop its
Bernardino, California, in December 2015; and approach to countering radicalization. Programs
Omar Mateen, who killed forty-nine people at a such as Channel in Britain and the Aarhus initia-
gay nightclub in Florida in June 2016. The latter tive in Denmark have served as models of how
two attackers were exposed to the Islamic State’s
nationally driven programs with local partners
propaganda based on their own pledged oaths to
and local programs with national-level support
the group but had no known direct contact with
can effectively challenge the space within which
it. These and similar recent cases in Europe have
ideologically driven extremists operate. A pro-
underscored to local and federal authorities the
gram such as Teach Women English in Lebanon,
importance of maintaining strong relationships
run through Hayya Bina, focuses counterradical-
with local Muslim communities and coordinating
ization efforts on mothers. This groundbreaking
more closely with them in identifying and “off-
program offers much sought-after English classes
ramping” individuals considered at risk of becom-
to women and, under that rubric, provides these
ing radicalized—whether toward plotting attacks
women with the knowledge to spot potential
at home or preparing to travel to various jihadist
recruitment efforts aimed at their sons and the
safe havens.
means to counter them. Additionally, defectors
NE W TACTICS OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. from the Islamic State have increasingly come out
A side from investing resources in building part- in public to broadcast their testimonials about
nerships with local communities and developing their disillusionment with the group, thereby serv-
closer intelligence sharing between law enforce- ing as indispensable sources of insight into life
in IS-controlled territory and as mate-

rial for dissuading potential recruits.
CO N C E P T UA L I Z I N G A
INTERVENTIONS OR “OFF-RAMPING”
The few nascent intervention programs
S T RO N G E R P / C V E S T R AT EGY
that have been established are still navi-
gating the nuts and bolts of what they
C
should be doing and how. The existing collection ontrary to conventional wisdom, efforts to pre-
of CVE research is still being mapped, and efforts vent and counter violent Islamist or other forms
to share best practices, ensure that research and of extremism are not and should not be con-
analysis inform CVE-related training, and establish fused with traditional, security-focused CT measures.
evaluation methods and standards for CVE pro-
grams are all in flux. These are some of the key tasks
assigned to the new Countering Violent Extremism P/CVE as a Necessary Complement
Task Force that was established in 2016 at the DHS to Traditional Counterterrorism
after an extensive interdepartmental evaluation of
existing CVE programs. Efforts to synchronize and P/CVE is not a soft alternative to CT, but rather a par-
integrate a whole-of-government approach to CVE allel and complementary policy option for dealing
are still in their infancy, however. Much work remains with disconcerting but lawful beliefs and activities that
to be done to professionalize counterradicalization occur in the pre-criminal space. Countering terrorism
intervention programs, which should be the heart requires both tactical efforts to thwart attacks and stra-
tegic efforts to counter the extremist radicalization that
and soul of countering violent extremism efforts. And
fuels its hatred and violence and undergirds its strat-
at the back end of CVE, the development of “off-
egy and global appeal. Building resilient communities
ramping” or diversion programs—such as alterna-
capable of resisting and countering violent extremism is
tive dispositions to convictions of low-level offenders
clearly in the national interest. But U.S. counterterrorism
in terrorism-related cases—is in its infancy.
experts also see P/CVE as a key part of the toolkit nec-
Despite these and other efforts by the U.S. govern- essary to preempt terrorist activity in the first place and
ment and its community and international partners, the to help handle the many cases of extremism that will
threats posed by the Islamic State and the phenomenon fall below the legal threshold for investigation. P/CVE
of “inspired” terrorist activity will continue to evolve as efforts are attractive to law enforcement for the way they
the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria and shifts reduce the pool of potential terrorist recruits across the
focus to attacks in Europe and the United States, as it spectrum of violent extremist ideologies.48
has been messaging in its latest propaganda. More- Law enforcement, security, and intelligence agencies
over, while the influx of foreign fighters has been sig- must continue to pursue counterterrorism cases at all
nificantly reduced—and will likely continue to fall as times. But there is a pressing need for programs that
the U.S.-led coalition claims successes in the territorial move the needle earlier in the process, before an individ-
fight against IS—the group’s operatives remain active ual has stepped over the Rubicon and a crime has been
on social media and in the cyber domains, pushing out committed or is imminent. P/CVE done right involves
literature on a regular basis and exploiting the latest proactively intervening to prevent the radicalization of
mobile and other communications technology to fur- individuals in the first place or to off-ramp those already
ther their cause and connect with at-risk individuals. along the radicalization process away from the extrem-
Developing closer collaboration and trust with local ist ideologies radicalizing them and mobilizing them to
communities in the United States and in Europe, where violence. In other words: Someone recruiting individuals
the nonintegration of local Muslim communities is a into a terrorist network or plotting an attack would be the
distinct challenge, will remain a top priority as the target of law enforcement and/or intelligence counter-
United States and its partners seek a strategic advan- terrorism authorities, while the persons being targeted
tage over IS and other jihadist groups in the communi- for radicalization could be candidates for intervention.
cations domain. The “countering” part of P/CVE involves proactive mea-
sures to counter extremist narratives and ideologies has an important role to play here, where the goal is not
intended to radicalize individuals to violent extremism, investigating crimes but working with local community
and intervention to prevent the radicalization of indiv- partners to solve problems and address the conditions
iduals already on the path of radicalization. that could give rise
P/CVE is best situated within a local, not a federal, to public safety
PREVENTING AND
context, and it will be most successful when it is not issues.
COUNTERING VIOLENT
solely a corollary function of counterterrorism efforts, Sometimes,
EXTREMISM
but rather a complementary effort to build a resilient community service
and socially cohesive society. To the extent that P/CVE organizations will PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
efforts are not strictly securitized, it will also be easier find themselves encompasses proactive efforts to
to integrate nonsecurity partners—like the Depart- facing a case in build community resilience to vio-
ments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Edu- which an indi- lent extremism. PVE is good gover-
cation—in P/CVE efforts. But the fact is that CVE only vidual does not nance: It works from the bottom up,
became a priority issue under the Obama administra- respond to services addressing local drivers of extrem-
tion in the wake of the April 2013 Boston Marathon or interventions ism, educating community members
bombings—a jihadist terrorist attack inspired by al- and the organiza- and leaders on the signs of radi-
Qaeda—and was driven not by federal service agen- tions have a legal calization, and building networks
cies or local community actors but by the national and professional to address radicalization should it
security community. What the national security com- “duty to warn” law manifest itself. Its focus is on the
munity has learned to appreciate, however, is the tre- enforcement of the community at large.
mendous benefit of partnering with local actors for a case as a threat to COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
whole-of-community approach that involves diverse public safety. The involves proactive, nonkinetic
faith and ethnic communities, social service organiza- need for connec- measures to counter extremist
tions, schools, public health and emergency manage- tive tissue between narratives and ideologies intended
ment agencies, and more.49 These benefits are con- local networks of to radicalize individuals to violent
sistent whether countering Islamist or other forms of community service extremism, and intervention to pre-
violent extremism. organizations and vent the radicalization of individuals
Often, law enforcement officers will be the first to come law enforcement already on the path of radicaliza-
across a case of radicalization in the course of their reg- therefore cuts both tion. Its focus is on the individual.
ular community policing or federal law enforcement and ways: law enforce-
intelligence functions. But law enforcement will never be ment will some-
able to identify all cases of radicalization, which is why times need partners to whom it can hand off cases involv-
working with local community groups is so important. It ing lawful but disconcerting or unstable suspects, and
is critical that parents, teachers, clinical social workers, community service organizations will sometimes need
mental health professionals, counselors, and other such to refer persons posing an imminent threat to public
figures have somewhere to turn other than law enforce- safety to law enforcement authorities. Determining how
ment when they encounter individuals who appear to be to structure that connective tissue can be tricky and in
drawn to radical ideas and behaviors but have not yet several areas—such as the threshold for professionals’
acted on these ideas, increasing the likelihood that they “duty to warn” of potential violence—are in desperate
could come forward and get help. Local service providers need of clarity and guidance. Local groups do not want
and community organizations are best positioned to spot to be seen as platforms for government surveillance pro-
radicalization in its earliest phases. Creating local net- grams, and law enforcement cannot be expected to inform
works of trained professionals to attend to such cases, as community groups of ongoing criminal or intelligence
clinical social workers and mental health professionals investigations. The key is developing trusting relation-
do in all kinds of cases daily around the country, helps ships between the parties so that intervention programs
complement a whole-of-government counterterrorism can be desecuritized on the one hand while maintain-
approach with a whole-of-community approach to pub- ing the necessary connective tissue with law enforce-
lic safety and community resilience. Community policing ment on the other.
A key CVE challenge of the day is developing a made between lawful beliefs and unlawful behaviors
framework for moving the needle so that individu- when it comes to law enforcement activity, but society
als on a path to violent extremism can be countered need not sanction or leave unchallenged extremist nar-
earlier in the radicalization process, instead of wait- ratives and radical ideologies. When a person has the
ing until they have already been radicalized and are kind of cognitive opening that can be filled by violent
mobilized to carry out or support an act of violence. extremist ideas, someone needs to be there to provide
For their part, the FBI and its sister federal, state, and alternative narratives and ideas.
local law enforcement agencies are not well positioned And those ideas are not necessarily pinned to a spe-
to play an effective role in this pre-criminal space. Law cific terrorist group. As a George Washington University
enforcement agencies do not want to be seen as the study concluded, American recruits to jihadism tend to
thought police, nor are their officials trained to be social be drawn to a broadly defined violent Islamist ideol-
workers. And community organizations often express ogy shared among a variety of sometimes rival groups.
discomfort at the prospect of partnering on community It should therefore not surprise that radical ideologues
cohesion and resilience projects with the same agen- like the late AQAP leader Anwar al-Awlaki have inspired
cies tasked with conducting surveillance and running followers of al-Qaeda, IS, and homegrown extremists
national security investigations. Building trust between alike. In the United States, many terrorist recruits are
communities and the federal government, in particular, “driven by a broad counter-cultural idealism, and are
demands more than sending NCTC analysts around the less tangled up in the minutiae of the power plays that
country to deliver a Community Awareness Briefing on divide such groups abroad.” As a result, the study noted,
the nature of the terrorist threat, and it cannot work if understanding the current threat of homegrown jihad-
the local officials involved in that engagement may be ist terrorism “requires an examination of the appeal of
involved in a surveillance or arrest within the community Salafi-Jihadist ideology in the U.S. as a whole, regard-
later that day or week. less of group affiliation.”50
Unfortunately, the U.S. government has a structural
and programming deficit when it comes to prevent-
Countering Extremist Ideology
ing and countering the ideological aspects of violent
Community engagement is a necessary component extremism. By default, P/CVE has been housed within
of relationship and trust building, but it cannot dictate the law enforcement community, with U.S. Attorneys’
against the sometimes uncomfortable but absolutely offices taking the lead in their jurisdictions and the new
critical need to respond to the ideological underpin- Task Force being housed at the DHS and co-led by
nings of radicalization, including developing effective the DHS and Justice Department. Contesting extremist
counternarratives. Healthy relationships with Muslim ideologies and narratives is not the purview of govern-
and other relevant communities are extraordinarily ment, let alone law enforcement, which appropriately
important, for the government and the communities resists anything that could be seen as creating a thought
alike. And local communities are uniquely qualified to police, but we as a society cannot afford to wait until
take on religious debates and contest violent ideologies someone commits a violent act. The goal must be to
draped in religious justification, something the govern- move the needle earlier in the radicalization process.
ment is particularly unfit to address. As uncomfortable To date, federal, state, and local P/CVE efforts—includ-
as the topic may be, it is essential to address the radi- ing the pilot programs in Boston, Minneapolis, and Los
cal ideologies underpinning violent extremist narratives Angeles—have largely avoided anything having to do
and their movements from the Islamic State to white with ideology or counternarratives, focusing instead on
supremacists. community outreach. In fact, the two are not mutually
Given the slippery ideological slope between extrem- exclusive: community organizations are best situated
ist radicalization and mobilization, it is important not to to address extremist narratives and their underlying
ban or criminalize but to actively challenge and debate ideology as part of a holistic effort to counter violent
even extremist narratives that do not explicitly advocate extremism.
violence yet do provide the “moral oxygen” for support- Ironically, the U.S. government has acknowledged
ing violent extremist groups. A clear distinction must be the importance of countering terrorist propaganda—
including Islamist extremism—online, establishing the authorities arrested two New York men who were in the
earlier-noted Global Engagement Center (GEC) in process of building a truck-borne radiation weapon for
March 2016 to “lead the coordination, integration, and use in a mass attack on Muslims and others.58 Indeed,
synchronization of Government-wide communications local law enforcement agencies across the country often
activities directed at foreign audiences abroad in order push back on federal government directives to focus too
to counter the messaging and diminish the influence heavily on international terrorism threats at the expense
of international terrorist organizations.”51 Since then, of the everyday criminal and public safety issues that
the center has partnered with foreign organizations dominate the day-in, day-out work of police officers. A
and governments to counter terrorist propaganda and study funded by the National Institute of Justice found
has established partnerships with Tunisia, Morocco, that “new terrorism-related demands and resources are
Saudi Arabia, France, Libya, and Jordan, and at least now competing with other national public safety priori-
a half-dozen more countries.52 Gen. Joseph Votel, ties, placing a strain on local law enforcement agencies.
commander of U.S. Central Command, described the Local officials cite drug enforcement and community
GEC’s work as “absolutely vital,” 53 and yet domestic policing initiatives as two local priorities that are being
countermessaging platforms and the tools to take down affected by shifting federal programs.”59 That is not to
or challenge extremist websites within the United States say they do not want to counter international terrorism,
are sorely lacking,54 despite gaining the attention of they just want to be able to prioritize and resource the
the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing full spectrum of their responsibilities according to the
Services (COPS).55 Cooperation with nongovernmental level of threat they see in their locality.
organizations working in this space, such as the Counter Growth in far-right groups has been on an almost
Extremism Project’s (CEP’s) Digital Disruption program, unbroken upward trend over the past fifteen years. The
shows promise for making progress.56 number of antigovernment “patriot” groups skyrocketed
At the same time, ideology is not the be-all and end- from 149 in 2008 to 512 after the election of President
all of terrorist recruitment, especially in the age of the Obama and peaked at 1,360 in 2012.60 Violent far-
Islamic State. On the one hand, one of the main rea- right attacks since Obama’s election included an attack
sons recruits are drawn to the jihadist group is that they by a neo-Nazi at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in
buy into its message that the end of the world is near 2009; an attempted bombing of a Martin Luther King Jr.
and that the “caliphate” represented by the Islamic State parade by a white supremacist in Spokane, Washington,
is a fulfillment of prophecy. Note the centrality for IS of in 2011; the attack on six Sikhs in Wisconsin by a white
the small, geostrategically unimportant town of Dabiq, supremacist in 2012; and the shooting of nine African
which according to one apocalyptic tradition is the site American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina,
of a future battle between true Muslim believers and the in 2015 by a young white man attempting to start a
infidels. On the other hand, many IS recruits know little race war.61 In January 2017, a man known for far-right,
about Islamic scripture. Indeed, “they are not particu- nationalist views killed six people and wounded eighteen
larly religious, many of them, but they are intoxicated by more in a shooting attack at a Quebec City mosque.62
the idea of fighting an end-times battle and absolving Hate crimes are on the rise in the United States,
their own sins.”57 The relative weight of push (e.g., griev- according to the FBI, especially those targeting Mus-
ance, social alienation) and pull (e.g., ideology, kinship, lims.63 New York City, typically a haven for diversity,
and belonging) factors will vary from case to case, but has been the scene of hundreds of alleged postelec-
both will figure to one extent or another in most cases. tion hate crimes and instances of harassment. New York
Radical ideologies and narratives play a key role in responded by creating a special police unit and hotline
extremist propaganda, but it is critical that authorities for residents to report episodes of bias and discrimina-
address the full gamut of extremist ideologies radical- tion. The hotline received more than four hundred calls
izing individuals and mobilizing them to violence. In the in its first six days.64 Followers of major white national-
United States, that means focusing not only on Islamist ist Twitter accounts increased from 3,542 in 2012 to
ideology and narratives but also on white supremacist, 25,406 in 2016.65 In February 2017, a federal jury in
far-right, and far-left ideologically inspired violence. Tennessee convicted Robert Doggart of solicitation to
Consider that two months before the Boston bombings, burn down a mosque. In a recorded phone conversa-
tion between Doggart and others, which was played prison sentences away from a return to violent extremism.
for the jury at trial, Doggart said, “I don’t want to kill The former focuses on the community, the latter on the
children, but there’s always collateral damage.”66 That individual. Distinguishing between the two allows for the
same month, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Secu- commonsense application of a public-health-style model
rity and Preparedness issued a report on the domes- to community-led prevention while maintaining the ability
tic terrorism threat posed by white supremacists in the to forge trusting connections between law enforcement
state.67 Indeed, law enforcement agencies across the and community service organizations when it comes to
country express at least as much concern about politi- interventions. Broader community-led efforts can thus be
cal violence carried out by antigovernment extremists as largely desecuritized, while those efforts addressing indi-
they do about Islamist extremists, if not more so.68 viduals already on the path to radicalization can still be
In short, to effectively prevent violent extremism in the run in such a way as to address the legitimate equities of
homeland, it is critical that P/CVE efforts address the full both the public health and law enforcement communi-
spectrum of ideologically inspired violence, including ties. This also allows for clearer distinctions between that
Islamist, far-right, and far-left violence, as well as non- which is P/CVE-relevant and that which is P/CVE-specific.
ideologically inspired violence. This is the case not only Preventing violent extremism is a group of proactive
because the country faces threats from across the ideo- efforts to build community resilience to violent extrem-
logical spectrum, but also because efforts to address ism. PVE is good governance; it works from the bottom
Islamist violent extremists will be more effective as part up, addressing local drivers of extremism, educating
of a comprehensive approach that addresses other community members and leaders on the signs of radi-
types of extremists as well. Across Europe, for example, calization, and building networks to address it should
lessons learned from interventions and other programs it manifest itself. Truly preventive efforts focus on build-
designed to address right-wing extremism have proven ing the kind of community resilience that is critical for
useful in developing those targeting left-wing and the functioning of healthy and safe communities. This
Islamist extremism—many of the same tools apply. This kind of upstream preventive work already exists in local
is a theme that arose at the 2016 NCTC CVE workshop communities across the country and addresses a variety
as well, which featured experts on Islamist, neo-Nazi, of issues, from anti-bullying and harassment programs
and other forms of extremism in an effort to apply rel- in schools to anti-drug and anti-gang programs run
evant lessons learned in one area of radicalization to through community centers, and much more. Programs
another. Indeed, there is broad consensus on this point aimed at preventing violent extremism—including both
with the law enforcement and intelligence communities. preexisting initiatives as well as new ones geared more
The summary note on the NCTC workshop articulated specifically toward the threat of terrorist radicalization
“the U.S. government’s need to explain that countering and recruitment—offer a wide variety of tools focused
violent extremism is not just focused on Muslim com- on expanding community-led initiatives to address the
munities. This explanation needs to include the fact local drivers of violent extremism.
that white supremacists, sovereign citizens, and black Preventive efforts would be well served by adopting a
extremist groups also operate in the United States.”69 public-health-style approach to efforts to prevent radi-
calization within a given community. A public-health-
style model—which typically focuses on preventing
Covering the PVE-CVE Waterfront exposure to disease in the first place, looking for pre-
clinical signs of infection, and then dealing with expo-
A comprehensive plan to counter Islamist and other sure if and when it happens—could be adapted to the
forms of radicalization should include both preventive P/CVE space as well.70
measures intended to inhibit radicalization from tak- In the preventive space, primary prevention would
ing hold within communities in the first place as well as focus on community-wide efforts to build resilience
measures meant to counter the process of radicalization against extremism by leveraging existing public safety
affecting an individual when it does occur. At the back and violence-prevention efforts. Community policing
end, P/CVE rehabilitation and reentry programs are key efforts are important here, as are community integra-
to steering people who finish serving terrorism-related tion and social cohesion programs such as making sure
residents know how and where to access services. Sec- or mobilization to violence will come across the radar
ondary prevention would focus on individuals, neighbor- not as referrals from law enforcement but from commu-
hoods, schools, or ethnic communities demonstrating nity partners engaged in the primary- and secondary-
characteristics—such as exposure to extremist ide- prevention programs described above. Consider the
ologies or contacts with virtual or physical radical net- case of white supremacist Dylann Roof, who murdered
works—that place them at higher risk for radicalization. the nine African American worshipers at a Charleston
Training for teachers, parents, counselors, and mentors, church. Roof had told friends before his deadly ram-
and extracurricular programming or school or job assis- page that he intended to carry out an attack in order
tance opportunities, would be employed as secondary- to start “a race war.” Had community-wide preventive
prevention options in this still-preventive space. efforts been in place, someone might have been in a
Research conducted by the Department of Homeland position to report such a statement to an intervention
Security demonstrated that within this preventive space team, which could have warned authorities.
addressing community and environmental factors can Sometimes, preliminary investigations reveal no
help prevent individuals attracted to a variety of different prosecutable conduct and nothing to warrant an ongo-
ideologies from “going down the path toward ideologi- ing intelligence investigation, either. With more than
cally motivated violence.” Irrespective of their specific nine hundred counterterrorism investigations related to
motivation, the DHS found, “an increasing number of the Islamic State alone across the United States, the FBI
violent individuals take similar paths and adopt a similar and its federal, state, and local sister agencies simply
tactical approach in preparing for and carrying out acts do not have the bandwidth to maintain open-ended
of violence.”71 Community- and environment-wide pre- investigations on every single case of radicalization that
vention efforts addressing these common radicalization crosses their radar. It therefore should not surprise that
access points therefore make a lot of sense. the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have been
Tertiary prevention, meanwhile, transitions into the at the forefront of the debate over how to create local
more traditional countering violent extremism space, community networks to which law enforcement could
focused on countering a disease—in this case, extrem- refer cases of concern—involving issues such as mental
ist ideologies or terrorist recruiters—to which individu- instability, radical ideological fervor, poor social inte-
als have now been exposed despite prevention efforts. gration, or marginalization.
Interventions, or “off-ramping” efforts, are where the Consider the cases of Orlando club shooter Omar
true P/CVE rubber meets the road once an individual Mateen and of New York and New Jersey bomber
has started down the path of radicalization. Ahmad Khan Rahami, each of whom had come across
In some cases, law enforcement will be the first to the FBI’s radar prior to their 2016 attacks. In each
identify an individual who has been exposed to violent case, the FBI ran the reports of radicalization to ground
ideologies but has not engaged in any criminal behav- and ultimately determined—correctly—that the case
ior. In such cases, the individual could be referred by involved no violation of the law and that First Amend-
the FBI or other state or local agencies to a commu- ment protections applied to the suspect’s expressions of
nity-based team of professional clinical social workers, radical ideology.72 In neither case was there anyone to
mental health professionals, clergy, family, friends, and whom the FBI could refer the suspect for further obser-
others who could tailor a multidisciplinary intervention vation or intervention, and in both cases the suspect
plan for the individual. It is possible the FBI may still subsequently carried out an ideologically inspired ter-
conduct an intelligence investigation of the individual rorist attack.
in the event that sufficient information exists to support Finally, the back end of P/CVE policy—that is, cre-
such a case (i.e., evidence the individual is consider- ating “off ramps” for individuals who have been radi-
ing acting on his or her violent extremist beliefs). But calized but will be reentering society—has hardly been
law enforcement would not be otherwise privy to the addressed here in the United States at all. This is an issue
individual’s therapy treatment unless and until the indi- that has received significant attention in Europe and
vidual appeared to present an imminent threat under elsewhere, where significant numbers of foreign terrorist
a therapist’s traditional “duty to warn.” In other cases, fighters have traveled to Syria, Iraq, Libya, or elsewhere
individuals on a path suggesting signs of radicalization to join the ranks of groups like IS or al-Qaeda.73 Some
of those fighters will not return to their home countries radicalized and present a greater security risk when they
either because they are killed fighting, die of natural are ultimately released from prison. Such “deradicaliza-
causes, prefer to remain within what is left of the Islamic tion” programs should never offer blanket amnesty and
State, or move on to the next jihadist front. But many should be subject to close metric and evaluation review
have already started to return to their home countries, to make sure they really work. Alternative disposition
overwhelming security and law enforcement personnel programs would have to be court-ordered and subject
who cannot possibly maintain open cases on that many to some type of parole structure, and would be espe-
individuals at once. Security agencies are therefore the cially useful in the case of reintegration of “formers” or
ones most desperately calling for the establishment of “terrorist dropouts” whose personal stories could prove
terrorist disengagement and rehabilitation programs.74 very powerful in P/CVE programs. But such programs
The number of American foreign fighters has been should be coordinated at the federal level so that pros-
comparatively tiny, and the country’s far more developed ecution and sentencing guidelines remain consistent
counterterrorism infrastructure makes the United States across the country.77 While terrorism charges would be
much better able to track the few who have gone and federal, others may be prosecuted at the state level on
returned. But over the next few years, a significant num- other charges, so guidelines should be developed for
ber of individuals convicted in U.S. courts of providing state-level prosecutions and sentencing as well.
material support to terrorist groups or plotting some type
of terrorist activity will complete their sentences and be
released back into society. The vast majority of these are
A Layered Approach to Preventing
American citizens, and to date there are no terrorist dis- & Countering Violent Extremism
engagement or rehabilitation programs within the Fed-
What is needed is a layered P/CVE concept that lever-
eral Bureau of Prisons (BOP). So far, BOP has been con-
ages not just a whole-of-government but a whole-of-
tent to apply whatever programs it has in place for the society approach that works from the bottom up. P/CVE
general criminal population to the population of terror- will be most effective when local communities partner
ism-related convicts. Moreover, within those programs with local government, with the support of state and
participation is voluntary and nothing is tailored to the federal partners, to address the various manifestations
context of ideologically driven terrorism. Nor is there a of violent extremism as they play out in their local con-
program in place specifically tailored to addressing the texts. Expressions of violent extremism and mobilization
release, restrictions, and monitoring of convicted terror- are by their nature very locally driven phenomena.
ists let out from prison after serving their sentences.75 And yet there is much U.S. policymakers could
There is one area, however, where back-end P/CVE learn from what America’s foreign partners have done
issues are just now beginning to be addressed in the abroad, often with U.S. support. Unlike most areas of
United States, albeit in haphazard fashion. In Min- counterterrorism, the United States sits in the back of
neapolis, a federal judge has hired Daniel Koehler, a the class when it comes to P/CVE. A number of coun-
German expert with experience evaluating both Islamist tries in Europe, Australia, and Canada, among others,
and far-right violent extremists, for the purpose of have outpaced the United States in this field, whether
assessing their candidacy for alternative dispositions.76 in terms of developing the relevant policy frameworks,
These are cases of individuals who have been inves- designing and implementing multidimensional local
tigated and arrested on terrorism-related charges but intervention programs, involving both law enforcement
may not be hardened terrorists. Young men and women and non-law-enforcement professionals, not to mention
lured by terrorist recruiters who contemplated or tried to local communities, or allocating resources. Much, but
travel overseas but did not travel and committed rela- not all, of this deficit as compared to Europe in par-
tively minor terrorist-related crimes might be better off ticular stems from the fact that the homegrown violent
directed to an appropriate “off-ramp” program rather extremist threat in the United States is relatively low.
than sentenced to long prison terms. Today, they might Whereas the United States didn’t develop a domestic
be assessed to be misguided youth—and, if not, a CVE framework until 2011—one that has been imple-
diversion program would not be under consideration— mented in a haphazard fashion with few dedicated
but after decades in prison they could easily be fully resources—Europe was spurred to action by the March
2004 attacks in Madrid and its long history of deal- THE EU’S R ADICALIZATION AWARENESS NET-
ing with far-left terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s. The WORK. RAN consists of more than three thousand
European Union identified prevention as one of the four frontline practitioners (e.g., police officers and
pillars of its 2005 counterterrorism strategy,78 which prison and probation authorities, as well as teach-
was updated in 2014 to reflect the “changing nature of ers, youth and community workers, civil society rep-
the threat and the need to prevent people from becom- resentatives, local authority officials, healthcare
ing radicalised, being radicalised and being recruited to professionals, representatives from victims of ter-
terrorism and to prevent a new generation of terrorists rorism associations, and academics) from across
from emerging.”79 Just last year, the European Com- Europe who work with people who are already or
mission issued a communication focused on enhancing are vulnerable to being radicalized.81 Its nine work-
support for EU member states’ efforts to prevent radi- ing groups cover issues of particular relevance to
calization in a number of areas.80 These include coun- CVE debates in the United States, including health
tering online radicalization, addressing radicalization to and social care, education, prison, and youth and
violent extremism in prisons, promoting inclusive educa- families. Since October 2015, the RAN Centre of
tion, boosting research and networking, and promoting Excellence has become a European hub for iden-
inclusive and open societies at home. This communica- tifying best practices, issuing practical recom-
tion, which emphasizes the importance the EU places on mendations and offering tailor-made support and
reaching beyond law enforcement and security actors, guidance to policymakers and public authorities.
builds on more than a decade of EU work in this area. It has EU funds to help national and local authori-
As a complement to this regional framework, a num- ties develop programs aimed at implementing RAN
ber of European countries have developed national P/ best practices.
CVE or counterradicalization strategies, including Brit-
MUNICIPAL-LEVEL INITIATIVES.A small but grow-
ain, with its well-known Prevent strategy, Belgium, Den-
ing number of cities and other local authorities have
mark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain,
developed strategies and programs, often involving
and Sweden. The new administration would be wise to
both law enforcement and non-law-enforcement
look closely at the content, not to mention the successes
agencies, to address the violent extremist threat at
and shortcomings in the implementation, of these differ-
each stage of the radicalization cycle, with Aarhus,
ent strategies as it considers how best to build on the P/
Denmark, often cited as a model. Other examples
CVE framework of its predecessors.
include Barcelona, Bordeaux, London, Malaga,
Looking beyond the normative, strategic level, there
Malmö, The Hague, Vienna, and Vilvoorde, with
is also much the United States could learn from its Euro-
these and many other cities across the continent
pean counterparts—while keeping in mind that the scale
connected to one another through the European
of the radicalization challenge is significantly smaller in
Forum for Urban Security’s CVE network.
the United States. Thus, the new administration should
pursue deeper and more systematic cooperation with CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS. A number of
Europeans at every level—EU, national, and local—as European countries have developed multidisci-
compared to the ad hoc, piecemeal cooperation with plinary programs, whether involving clerics, men-
Europe on P/CVE of the past few years. This is par- tors, family members, peers, or health professionals,
ticularly the case should the administration choose to for those wishing to leave far-right and other violent
jump-start tailored local prevention, intervention, and extremist groups. In Germany, drawing on suc-
rehabilitation programs for addressing violent extrem- cessful experience countering extreme right-wing
ism, programs with which European policymakers and recruitment to violence, officials have launched
practitioners have a growing body of experience, largely emergency hotlines for families and peers of those
triggered by the fast rise of the phenomenon of Euro- being targeted by violent extremist recruitment and
pean foreign terrorist fighters traveling to Syria, from are working with mosques and Muslim communi-
which to draw. ties to help them identify individuals who might be
Examples of some of the more innovative European at risk for radicalization to violence, including those
CVE efforts include: fleeing conflict zones.
An effective, holistic whole-of-society approach to the al-Qaeda branch al-Shabab and later to the Islamic
countering extremism in the homeland starts with a State. At the other end of the violent extremist spectrum
community-led model. The most developed example is Life After Hate, a group founded by former mem-
of such a model is the “Montgomery County Model,” bers of American violent far-right extremist movements
developed by the World Organization for Resource that assists individuals trying to leave far-right extrem-
Development and Education (WORDE) and now being ist groups and helps community, educational, and civic
expanded as the Building Resilience Against Violent organizations grapple with the causes of intolerance
Extremism (BRAVE) model in additional jurisdictions and racism.85
across the country.82 This model looks broadly at a Research underscores the strength of a layered
variety of risk factors that might influence radicaliza- approach. The University of Maryland’s START pro-
tion, including psychological factors, sociological moti- gram created a 1,500-person data set on Profiles of
vators, economic factors, political grievances, and Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS).
ideology, beliefs, and values. The idea is to “engage Among the findings of this National Institute of Justice–
a wide range of stakeholders—including faith commu- funded research project is this: “Programs that place an
nity leaders, public officials, law enforcement officers, undue focus on particular communities are likely to be
educators, and social service providers—in a way that counterproductive by exasperating [sic]feelings of col-
promotes trust, respect, and positive social interac- lective victimization. Successful programs, on the other
tion.” Once a cohesive community network committed hand, will be tailored to specific ideological groups and
to overall public safety has been established, and its sub-groups, and will address the underlying psychologi-
stakeholders have been educated to the public safety cal and emotional vulnerabilities that make individuals
needs of the community (including but not limited to open to extremist narratives.”86
terrorism), they can serve as an early-warning network The third level is where government interacts with
of trusted professionals who can connect at-risk indi- community organizations. For any of these programs
viduals to the network of professionals for intervention. to succeed, the federal government must engage in
Community policing fits easily into this model, though ongoing outreach and engagement efforts to build
trust building is critical here as it is in any community trust, maintain open lines of communication, and edu-
policing effort. This first layer of a whole-of-society cate and raise awareness of the ever-changing nature
model incorporates both components of P/CVE and is of violent extremist threats and the ways international
broadly focused on a geographic area. In the words of events (such as the war in Syria) shape the extremist
its founder, Hedieh Mirahmadi, “This is not a Muslim- ideologies and terrorist propaganda available online,
centric program; it is an all-of-community model. The no matter how strong U.S. border security. The Com-
community as a whole is best placed to understand the munity Awareness Briefings, which were instituted in
risk factors associated with extremist behavior and how 2011, were an effort to do just this, but they were so
to intervene, from schoolteachers to law enforcement security- and terrorism-centric that the effort some-
officials to religious figures.”83 times alienated local partners. The federal government
The second layer builds on the first, and includes can also play an important role in supporting local P/
more targeted outreach to religious, ethnic, issue-spe- CVE efforts—from coordinating and synchronizing the
cific, neighborhood, or other local community groups. many federal programs across the government that
Community-wide organizations, law enforcement orga- are P/CVE-relevant or specific to setting standards of
nizations, local, state, and federal government offices, excellence for interventions and sharing best prac-
and others can work with these issue- and community- tices—but those efforts are ultimately best organized
specific groups to impact target populations. Consider, and operated at the local level. Ultimately, the gov-
for example, Ka Joog, a Somali-American nonprofit ernmental footprint for effective P/CVE public-private
focused on providing “community-based, culturally spe- partnerships is best situated within local and state gov-
cific programs and services to Somali youth and their ernment agencies—the more local, the better. Mayors
family.”84 Ka Joog operates in Minnesota, where the know their cities best, and governors can coordinate
community has struggled to contend with radicalization efforts and help facilitate funding for programs across
within the Somali-American community first related to their states. Mayors and governors should therefore
focus on four key areas identified by practitioners in a vate-sector support for the effort to build communi-
University of Maryland study: (1) convene and facili- ties resilient to the spread of violent extremism. Busi-
tate a collective vision among community-based orga- nesses could direct much more of their corporate social
nizations, (2) provide structure and enable communi- responsibility projects at marginalized communities tar-
ties to communicate and learn from one another, (3) geted by terrorist recruiters. They can join with govern-
scale up innovations, and (4) evaluate local programs, ment donors in funding community-led programs that
report back to stakeholders on what works, and offer alternatives, whether educational, vocational, cul-
provide guidance.87 tural, or other types; where funds aren’t available, they
But there is more the federal government can and can offer training, mentoring, or branding expertise to
should do to promote effective P/CVE efforts nation- grassroots organizations in at-risk communities that are
wide, especially in the online space. A Program on implementing P/CVE programs and can serve as agents
Extremism study “identified some 300 American and/ of positive change in their community. For example, in
or U.S.-based ISIS sympathizers active on social media, Minneapolis, the U.S. Attorney’s office has been able
spreading propaganda, and interacting with like- to bring together private-sector companies such as
minded individuals.”88 The federal government should Cargill, Mall of America, and other local businesses
play a facilitating role in the creation of private- and to provide funding for Somali youth-empowerment
academic-sector efforts to counter extremists’ online programs, and hold job fairs led by the Transportation
propaganda and communications, something that has Security Administration and Customs and Border Pro-
received significant U.S. government attention abroad tection geared toward the Somali community and job
but less so at home. Ideas for best practices for public- skills mentoring.91 Internationally, multilateral actors
private partnerships in the P/CVE space already exist such as the Global Community Engagement and Resil-
and should be built upon and implemented in the tech- ience Fund (GCERF) and the UN Development Pro-
nology space in particular.89 gramme (UNDP) are trying to secure greater private-
The private and nonprofit sectors have important sector interest in and support for P/CVE efforts. Such
roles to play in the wider P/CVE space as well. In par- efforts are desperately needed domestically within the
ticular, there is a role for technology companies to United States as well. Once established, such groups
contend with extremists’ online propaganda and com- should hire peers from within the business community
munications. But it is also in the private sector’s interest to spur investment in P/CVE efforts.
to provide financial support to P/CVE efforts, such as The philanthropic community has an important
to nonprofits like BRAVE that engage in building com- role to play here as well, though the most effective
munity resilience as well as performing interventions.90 approach would be to encourage philanthropic sup-
To their credit, social media and technology com- port for preventive programs and initiatives.
panies have attempted to counter the terrorist propa- An example of an existing initiative that would ben-
ganda often disseminated on their networks by, for efit from private-sector and philanthropic support is
example, voluntarily deleting content published by ter- the Strong Cities Network, a global coalition of cities
rorist groups or shutting down accounts that threaten or looking to develop and share innovative approaches
promote terrorism. This response was, to some extent, to countering violent extremism. The network has
the result of a barrage of public pressure on companies plans to launch a local innovation fund aimed at jump-
like Facebook, Twitter, and Google from political lead- starting public-private partnerships that provide posi-
ers and national security officials in the United States tive alternatives for vulnerable young people in key cit-
and abroad. Companies in other industries—whether ies around the world. Creating these types of networks
oil and gas, textiles, or hospitality—however, have yet to for local-level government and community service
join a whole-of-society response, preferring to stay clear and nonprofit organizations exponentially enhances
of challenges linked to security, particularly terrorism. the capabilities of each individual entity and of the
More attention should be paid to mobilizing pri- overall network.
R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S
I CORE RECOMMENDATIONS
1.1. Adopt the term P/CVE—representing the full spectrum of activities aimed at preventing and countering
violent extremism—and recognize P/CVE as a critical tool that is not part of, but is a necessary complement
to, counterterrorism efforts. Officials at all levels of government should embrace and employ P/CVE for the
important public safety, public health, and violence prevention tool it is, and fund P/CVE efforts accordingly
through independent funding streams each for programs aimed at preventing (public safety and health) and
countering (law enforcement) violent extremism.
1.2 Define CVE so that it is clear what is CVE-relevant and what is CVE-specific. To date, CVE has been so
broadly defined that it can include everything from building playgrounds in “at risk” neighborhoods, to
running localized intervention programs for people drawn to violent extremist ideologies, to rehabilitat-
ing people convicted of terrorism charges or returning foreign terrorist fighters. If CVE is everything, it is
nothing.
1.3 Identify violent extremist ideologies—from jihadism to white supremacism to leftist-inspired ethnocentrism
and more—as key drivers of extremist radicalization and mobilization to violence, while acknowledging that
both push factors (local grievance, trauma, identity crisis, personal problems) and pull factors (kinship, radi-
cal ideology, and narratives) play roles in radicalization and mobilization and that their relative importance
will vary from case to case. Address both ideological and nonideological drivers of radicalization.
1.4 Place P/CVE within the larger context of building community resilience against violent extremism. Balance
the good-governance and security sides of P/CVE to create space for a whole-of-society P/CVE strategy that
allows for the commonsense application of a public-health-style model to community-led prevention while
maintaining strong connective tissue between law enforcement and community service organizations when
it comes to interventions.
II. STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1 Break down the full spectrum of efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism efforts (P/CVE) into three
distinct categories, addressing (1) prevention, (2) intervention, and (3) rehabilitation/reintegration, and
apply a three-tiered model based on a public-health-style approach to P/CVE efforts. The aim here is to (1)
prevent exposure in the first place, (2) look for preclinical signs of infection (radicalization), and (3) deal with
exposure if and when it happens.
a. At the front end, efforts to build resilience within communities against extremism would be categorized as
preventing violent extremism. This would include a wide array of programs and initiatives that are clearly
CVE-relevant but are not CVE-specific. In particular, it would include the first two levels of a public-health-
style model—levels focusing on the preventive space and on communities.
b. In the broad middle, CVE-specific efforts to counter radicalization and recruitment would focus on inter-
vention programs to deal with individuals who have started down a path to radicalization. Here, the focus
is on individuals.
c. At the back end lies another important P/CVE-specific area: rehabilitation and reintegration programs for
individuals who were radicalized and are now in or have just been released from prison or for individuals
returning from participation in militant conflicts abroad (e.g., in Syria, Iraq) and reentering society.
d. Of course, efforts to prevent and counter extremism in the homeland cannot be fully separated from what
is occurring overseas. Defeating foreign terrorist groups and bankrupting their ideology is a powerful
component to stemming the appeal these groups will have to potential recruits, whether they are abroad
or within the United States.
2.2 Recognize that radicalization occurs within communities, and shape P/CVE programs so that they are com-
munity-driven and tailored to each community’s particular needs. Not all communities will have the same
risk factors, nor will they have the same resources at their disposal. It is important to enable local actors to
develop local, contextual responses to local grievances or other push factors. The federal government role
should be to support state and local P/CVE efforts with funding, networking, training, research, and evalu-
ation and metrics tools.
2.3 Strike a healthier balance between security-based and other community-wide efforts to prevent and counter
violent extremism, especially in the preventive space. Such efforts are most successful when they address
the full spectrum of challenges and needs facing a community or an individual. Desecuritizing such efforts
also facilitates the integration of nonsecurity, service-oriented agencies at all levels of government and their
community service organization partners.
2.4 Leverage the upstream P/CVE work already being done in communities across the country to address a wide
array of issues, from anti-bullying and harassment programs in schools to anti-drug and anti-gang pro-
grams run through community centers, and more. An area for growth in this space would be to incorporate
P/CVE language into the resources offered through 211/311 local service telephone numbers. This could
be done at a national level with national crisis text lines as well, and in either case could direct inquiries to
local vetted and trained agencies or programs within a local P/CVE network.
2.5 Build trust between communities, community service organizations, and law enforcement. Local partners are
put in untenable positions if they are seen as participating in something the community perceives as cover
for government surveillance programs. The key is developing trusting relationships between the parties so
that intervention programs can still function with the necessary connective tissue to law enforcement.
2.6 Recognize that local service providers and community organizations are best positioned to spot radicaliza-
tion in its earliest phases. But the professionals who run intervention programs need clear guidance on the
legal threshold for a “duty to warn.” To date, guidance differs from state to state, severely undermining the
ability of public health and other professionals to work in this space and creating unnecessary tension with
law enforcement officials. Professionals also need guidance on what types of activities are fully permissible
and what types may approach a violation of the material support statute.
2.7 Contest extremist narratives. When extremist speech articulates a threat of imminent violence, law enforce-
ment authorities should take appropriate action. Short of such an imminent threat, however, extremist
speech should not be banned but contested. Given the Establishment Clause and other First Amend-
ment considerations, silencing objectionable views or arresting their proponents is anathema to American
democracy. In contrast, debate is a cornerstone of the American project. Without banning violent extremist
views, responsible leadership demands debating them.
2.8 Treat Americans of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds as full-fledged partners on the panoply of issues, for-
eign and domestic, with which the whole of American society is concerned, not solely on those related to
CVE. In particular, given the rise of Islamophobia in the United States, U.S. government agencies should be
especially sensitive to the need for interaction with Muslim American communities. Such interaction should
be broad-based and reflect the diversity of these communities.
2.9 Develop alternatives to prosecution of low-level offenders such as youth who planned to travel abroad to fight
in a conflict zone but did not go, or those who went and quickly reconsidered and returned. Disengagement
programs would focus on the post-crime context and take place as part of an alternative to prosecution (e.g.,
diversion) or an alternative to incarceration (e.g., probation) and would involve intensive counseling and judi-
cial supervision. Such disengagement programs should never offer blanket amnesty and should be subject to
close metric and evaluation review to make sure they really work. Alternative disposition programs would have
to be court-ordered and subject to some type of parole structure, and would be especially useful in the case of
reintegration of “formers” or “terrorist dropouts” whose personal stories could prove very powerful in P/CVE
programs. But such programs should be coordinated at the federal level so that prosecution and sentencing
guidelines remain consistent across the country.
2.10 Develop full-fledged rehabilitation and reintegration programs for individuals who have been radicalized
but are reentering society. While the United States may not face the same level of threat from returning
foreign terrorist fighters as its European allies do, there is an urgent need to develop P/CVE programs
within the U.S. prison system, especially given the high number of individuals convicted of terrorism-related
offenses who are due to be released from prison within the next few years.
2.11 Efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism are drastically underfunded across the board. Funding
streams need to be created so that the provision of resources is commensurate with the nature of the threat.
Funding streams need to be organized across stakeholder agencies at the federal level, and private-sector
and philanthropic funding sources should be encouraged and developed for the many types of activities and
programs across the full range of the P/CVE spectrum.
2.12 Expand cross-disciplinary research that leverages social scientists in academia, as well as government
resources such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Lessons can be drawn from across the spectrum of violent extremist ideologies to consider
cross-application. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), housed within the Department of Justice and thus
represented in the interagency CVE Task Force, has already begun work in this area. The NIJ and others
should continue to push for innovative research that, for example, defines community resilience factors and
develops risk assessment tools to provide better information to communities developing such programs.
2.13 Metrics and evaluation are needed to support an evidence-based approach, from examining the nature of
the threat to identifying what works. However, it should be done in a focused and coordinated manner so as
to not overwhelm the limited number of nascent CVE programs. For example, two evaluations of WORDE
underscore the value of the community-led public safety model.92 Independent scientific evaluation will also
be foundational to the development of reintegration and alternative disposition programs in the United
States. As more CVE programs are rolled out, there will be mistakes, but stakeholders need to learn from
them. Evaluations are important both for ongoing programs—to provide a feedback loop—and to shape
new initiatives.
III.. STRUCTURAL RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 The creation of an interagency CVE Task Force to manage and integrate a whole-of-government CVE strat-
egy was a step in the right direction. To reflect that its mission includes efforts under the headings of both
preventing and countering violent extremism, the task force should be renamed the Preventing and Counter-
ing Violent Extremism Task Force (P/CVE Task Force).
3.2 The task force, however, has struggled to draw in service-oriented stakeholder departments to the shared
P/CVE mission. For some, DHS/DOJ shared leadership of the task force created the appearance of
an overly security-focused approach to P/CVE, something departments like Health and Human Services
(HHS) and Education (ED) have feared would taint their programs if they became full participants in P/CVE
efforts. To address this imbalance, the task force leadership structure should be reconfigured so that its
director position rotates between DHS and DOJ personnel and its deputy director position rotates between
HHS and ED. Both HHS and ED already engage in violence-prevention programming within their respec-
tive fields,93 and making this structural change would help create a truly whole-of-government approach
across the spectrum of programming, including good governance, social cohesion and integration, public
safety, violence prevention, and counterterrorism.
3.3 While the current task force director also heads the Office of Community Partnerships (OCP) and reports
directly to the secretary of Homeland Security, the position does not clearly align against the standard
internal structures of partner departments and agencies. Rectifying this imbalance would give the task
force and OCP stronger standing to synchronize P/CVE programs across the interagency and draw on
CVE-related authorities and budgets among all P/CVE stakeholders. To date, the task force has found it
particularly difficult to convince service-oriented departments to be full partners in this space. Internally,
DHS/OCP is the office best suited to lead and coordinate all P/CVE efforts within the department but
requires more formal stature to do so effectively. To address this imbalance, the DHS/OCP and task force
director should be made an assistant secretary–rank position, and the deputy director a deputy assistant
secretary–rank position.
3.4 To promote a community-centric national CVE strategy, and to give state and local authorities a more direct
voice in the development of CVE programming, the CVE Task Force should build on a model it has already
successfully implemented in a couple of cases and forward-deploy federal officials from task force stake-
holder agencies to communities across the country. Already, the task force has a representative in Denver
(seated within the U.S. Attorney’s office) and in Los Angeles (originally seated in the mayor’s office and now
in a local DHS office). Other federal departments have implemented similar programs, including the State
Department, which stations a foreign service officer in the mayor’s office in Houston. The DHS’s Protective
Security Advisor Program, which has personnel serving in seventy-three districts in all fifty states and Puerto
Rico, could serve as a model.94 Local and state representatives should be included on the task force itself in
Washington DC as well.
3.5 Create state and local government P/CVE advisory councils working with and through existing bodies such
as the Criminal and Social Justice Program of the United States Conference of Mayors,95 the Homeland
Security and Public Safety Division of the National Governors Association,96 and groups such as the Interna-
tional Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs’
Association.
3.6 Create national prevention and intervention networks that local and state authorities and community service
organizations can plug into. These should leverage existing national-level organizations already working in
this space such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and National
Child Traumatic Stress Network.97 Such a network should include national-level associations of universities,
colleges, and secondary schools, as well as associations representing clinical social workers and mental
health professionals.
3.7 Leverage local and state emergency management resources to help build local capacity to deal with HVE
radicalization threats. In particular, compile in-state resource lists of vetted and trained local and state gov-
ernment entities, community service organizations, private resources (e.g., volunteer psychologists and clini-
cal social workers), and community leaders to be able to come together and provide intervention services
as needed in communities where size or budgetary constraints hinder the creation of a permanent body to
provide such services.
3.8 Establish interagency fly teams modeled after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Com-
munity Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), to provide training and information,98 and FBI Fly Teams, to
respond to high-priority cases in communities too small to build a capability of their own.99 This way, when
a crisis happens in a community that does not have CVE capability (e.g., someone traveled abroad and is
now recruiting others), a multidisciplinary team of specially trained clinical social workers, psychologists,
religious and community leaders, and law enforcement personnel can help local officials and community
service organizations build their own local network to deal with this problem.
STUDY GROUP MEMBERS
KATHERINE BAUER is the Blumenstein-Katz Family fellow in the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence
at The Washington Institute and a former Treasury official who served as the department’s financial attaché in Jeru-
salem and the Gulf. Before leaving Treasury in late 2015, she served for several months as senior policy advisor for
Iran in the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (TFFC). During the two previous years, she served as
financial attaché for the Gulf, representing the department in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab
Emirates. Her other posts include assistant director of TFFC; financial attaché in Jerusalem, with responsibility for
policy, technical assistance, and sanctions matters in the West Bank and Gaza (2009–11); and senior analyst focused
on illicit financial networks (2006–9). Prior to working at the Treasury Department, Bauer was a nonproliferation
graduate fellow at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
RAND BEERS is a visiting professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College and a former senior
advisor to President Barack Obama. Previously, he served as acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, a position to which he was appointed in September 2013 after serving as acting deputy secretary. From
June 2009 until May 2013, Beers led the efforts of the DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate to
reduce risks to physical, cyber, and communications infrastructures. Previously, he co-led the DHS transition team for
the incoming Obama administration. Prior to the 2008 election, Beers was president of the National Security Net-
work, through which experts seek to foster discussion of progressive national security ideas around the country, and
an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In addition to serving as deputy Homeland
Security advisor in the previous administration, Beers served on the National Security Council Staff under the prior
four presidents, as director for counterterrorism and counternarcotics (1988–92), director for peacekeeping (1993–
95), special assistant to the president and senior director for intelligence programs (1995–98), and special assistant
to the president and senior director for combating terrorism (2002–3). In 2003–4, he was national security advisor
for John Kerry’s presidential campaign. Beers began his professional career as a Marine Corps officer and infantry
company commander in Vietnam (1964–68). He entered the foreign service in 1971 and transferred to the civil ser-
vice in 1983. He served most of his career in the Department of State, including as deputy assistant secretary of state
for regional affairs in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, focusing on the Middle East and Persian Gulf (1992–93).
He was also assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs (1998–2002).
ADNAN KIFAYAT is head of Global Security Ventures for the Gen Next Foundation, leading its efforts to develop
innovative solutions to global security challenges through a venture philanthropy model that leverages a network of
entrepreneurs. Over the last sixteen years, Kifayat has held senior positions in public service, including at the White
House, State Department, and Treasury Department, as well as overseas at diplomatic missions in Jerusalem and
Tunis. He served as U.S. secretary of state John Kerry’s acting special representative to Muslim communities, creating
programs to broaden and deepen U.S. engagement with leaders in Muslim communities worldwide based on shared
commitments to global security. As senior advisor to the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, he led initia-
tives to counter the spread of violent extremism and established the Global Strategic Engagement Center (GSEC).
His work at the Treasury Department resulted in closer financial cooperation between the United States and key
allies around the world. He served as alternate executive director of the African Development Bank, and twice on the
National Security Council Staff, coordinating counterterrorism and economic policies in the Middle East and Africa.
Prior to his public service, Kifayat created market access strategies for Cargill and designed programs for Delphi
International to advance U.S. engagement on a people-to-people basis around the world. Kifayat is an advisor to the
Center for Sanctions and Illicit Finance at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an advisory member on
Harvard University’s Project on Countering Extremism and Online Hate, cochair of the Homeland Security Advisory
Council’s Working Group on Countering Violent Extremism, and a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the
United States, advising on strategies to develop the next generation of transatlantic leaders.
MATTHEW LEVITT is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of The Washington Institute’s Stein Program on Coun-
terterrorism and Intelligence. From 2005 to early 2007, Dr. Levitt served as deputy assistant secretary for intelligence
and analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In 2008–9, he served as a State Department counterterrorism
advisor to the special envoy for Middle East regional security (SEMERS), Gen. James L. Jones. From 2001 to 2005,
Dr. Levitt served as the founding director of the Institute’s counterterrorism program, which was established in the
wake of the September 11 attacks. Previously, he was a counterterrorism intelligence analyst at the FBI, where he
provided tactical and strategic analytical support for counterterrorism operations, focusing on fundraising and logis-
tical support networks for Middle East terrorist groups. Dr. Levitt has written extensively on CVE issues and lectured
frequently on the topic at international fora, including events run by the Global Counterterrorism Forum, United
Nations, U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, and more. This is the third bipartisan CVE study group he has led
for the Institute.
JACOB OLIDORT, a historian of Islam and the modern Middle East, currently serves as special advisor on Middle
East policy and country director for Syria at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy in the U.S. Department
of Defense. In 2015–16, Dr. Olidort was a Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute, where his work covered jihadism,
Salafism, and Islamic political movements. He received his PhD in Near Eastern studies from Princeton University,
where his research focused on the intersection of Islamic law, theology, and modern politics. His publications include
Inside the Caliphate’s Classroom: Textbooks, Guidance Literature, and Indoctrination Methods of the Islamic State
(Washington Institute, 2016) and The Politics of “Quietist” Salafism (Brookings Institution, 2015). He regularly pres-
ents on jihadism to the U.S. government, including the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, and
his commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs, among other outlets.
A former Fulbright scholar (UAE), he taught at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington
University and is a term member in the Council on Foreign Relations. His contributions to this report were made
prior to assuming his current position in the Department of Defense, and the views expressed here do not necessarily
reflect those of the U.S. government.
SAMANTHA RAVICH is an expert in national security and international political risk, and a senior advisor in the
Chertoff Group. She cochairs the National Commission for the Review of the Research and Development Programs
of the U.S. intelligence community. Previously, Dr. Ravich served as deputy national security advisor to Vice President
Dick Cheney. Dr. Ravich started her career in Los Angeles as a financial analyst in real estate development. From
1999 to 2001, she was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she worked with
former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and his development of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Ravich
served as vice president for the Long Term Strategy Project, an endeavor established to assess security threats facing
the United States. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was a CFR International Affairs Fellow.
Dr. Ravich serves on the boards of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, the RAND Graduate School, and the
selection committee for the Hitachi Japan CFR International Affairs Fellows Program.
ERIC ROSAND is director of the Prevention Project: Organizing Against Violent Extremism and a nonresident senior
fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. From January 2010 to March
2016, he was a senior official in the U.S. Department of State, working on counterterrorism and CVE, including as
CVE counselor to the undersecretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights. In this capacity, he
was the department’s policy coordinator for the White House CVE Summit and follow-on process. Previously, Rosand
was a senior advisor to the coordinator for counterterrorism, where he helped develop and launch the Global Coun-
terterrorism Forum and other multilateral CT and CVE platforms. From 2006 to 2010, he codirected the Center on
Global Counterterrorism Cooperation (now the Global Center on Cooperative Security) and served as a nonresi-
dent fellow at NYU’s Center on International Cooperation. Previously, he served in the State Department’s Office of
the Legal Adviser and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. He is the author of a number of reports, articles, blog
posts, and opinion pieces on international CT and CVE issues and coauthor (with Alistair Millar) of Allied against
Terrorism: What’s Needed to Strengthen Worldwide Commitment (Century, 2006).
AARON Y. ZELINis the Richard Borow Fellow at The Washington Institute. He is also a PhD candidate (ABD)
at King’s College London, where his dissertation covers the history of the Tunisian jihadist movement. Zelin is the
founder of the widely acclaimed and cited website Jihadology.net and its podcast, JihadPod. Zelin’s research focuses
on Sunni Arab jihadist groups in North Africa and Syria. He is also the author of the New America Foundation’s 2013
study The State of Global Jihad Online, the 2014 Washington Institute study The War between ISIS and al-Qaeda
for Supremacy of the Global Jihadist Movement, and the 2016 Washington Institute study The Islamic State’s Territor-
ial Methodology.
Notes
1. Donald Trump, “Inaugural Address” (speech, Washington, D.C., January 20, 2017), CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/
politics/trump-inaugural-address/. For the purposes of this report, we distinguish between the terms “Islamic,” which denotes
the religion of Islam or its institutions, and “Islamist,” which refers to someone who adheres to a radical political ideology
separate from Islam as a religion.
2. For the purposes of this report, we define radical Islamist extremism to include the ideologies of takfiri jihadist groups
like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, nationalist Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and the so-
called conveyor belt groups like Hizb al-Tahrir (HT) which do not perpetrate acts of terrorism per se but help lay the
groundwork for the toxic message of ISIS and other violent groups to take hold and for individuals to take action. We
do not consider anti–United States or anti-West attitudes alone to constitute radicalism. The study group also distin-
guished between radicalization and religious piety/ devotion to Islam. The extremist ideology at issue is a distortion of
Islam, and in fact, many who have been radicalized remain surprisingly ignorant about the religion, particularly as the
radicalization process has accelerated in recent years. When referring to acts of terrorism by Islamist extremists we use
the term Jihadist terrorism.
3. As noted by the Department of Homeland Security, “Violent extremist threats come from a range of groups and individu-
als, including domestic terrorists and homegrown violent extremists in the United States, as well as international terrorist
groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. Lone offenders or small groups may be radicalized to commit violence at home or attempt
to travel overseas to become foreign fighters. The use of the Internet and social media to recruit and radicalize individuals
to violence means that conventional approaches are unlikely to identify and disrupt all terrorist plots.” See U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, Office for Community Partnerships, “Countering Violent Extremism,” ed. January 19, 2017, https://
www.dhs.gov/countering-violent-extremism.
4. Scott Carpenter, Michael Jacobson, and Matthew Levitt, “Rewriting the Narrative: An Integrated Strategy for Counter-
radicalization,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, March 2009, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Docu-
ments/pubs/PTF2-Counterradicalization.pdf.
5. Scott Carpenter, Matthew Levitt, Steven Simon, and Juan Zarate, “Fighting the Ideological Battle: The Missing Link in U.S.
Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, July 2010, http://www.washingtoninstitute.
org/policy-analysis/view/fighting-the-ideological-battle-the-missing-link-in-u.s.-strategy-to-counte.
6. United Nations Security Council Counter-terrorism Committee, “Foreign terrorist fighters,” press release, September 24,
2014, https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/focus-areas/foreign-terrorist-fighters/.
7. Charles Kurzman and David Schanzer, “Law Enforcement Assessment of the Violent Extremism Threat,” Triangle Center on
Terrorism and Homeland Security, June 2015, https://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/2013/06/Kurzman_Schanzer_Law_Enforce-
ment_Assessment_of_the_Violent_Extremist_Threat_final.pdf.
8. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Statement by Secretary Jeh C. Johnson on DHS’s New Office for Commu-
nity Partnerships,” September 28, 2015, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2015/09/28/statement-secretary-jeh-c-johnson-
dhs%E2%80%99s-new-office-community-partnerships.
9. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Countering Violent Extremist Task Force,” January 8, 2016, http://langara.ca/
library/research-help/citing-help/pdf/citing-chicago-jan2014.pdf.
10. U.S. Department of Justice, “Pilot Programs are Key to our Countering Violent Extremism Efforts,” Justice Blogs, February
18, 2015, https://www.justice.gov/opa/blog/pilot-programs-are-key-our-countering-violent-extremism-efforts.
11. U.S. Department of Justice, “Pilot Programs are Key to our Countering Violent Extremism Efforts,” Justice Blogs, February
18, 2015, https://www.justice.gov/opa/blog/pilot-programs-are-key-our-countering-violent-extremism-efforts.
12. Michael McCaul, “State of Homeland Security Address” (speech, Washington, D.C., December 7, 2016), House Home-
land Security Committee, https://homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/State-of-Homeland-Security-
Address-2016.pdf.
13. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, House Homeland Security Committee, Identifying the Enemy: Radical Islamist
Terror, 114th Cong., 2nd sess., 2016, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HM/HM09/20160922/105384/HHRG-114-HM09-
Wstate-SelimG-20160922.pdf.
14. Julia Edwards Ainsley, Dustin Volz and Kristina Cooke, “Exclusive: Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on
Islam – sources,” Reuters, February 2, 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-extremists-program-exclusiv-
idUSKBN15G5VO.
15. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and
Global Counterterrorism, Homeland Security Beyond our Borders: Examining the Status of Counterterrorism Coordination
Overseas, 110th Cong., 1st sess., 2007, https://www.scribd.com/document/332425345/HOUSE-HEARING-110TH-CON-
GRESS-HOMELAND-SECURITY-BEYOND-OUR-BORDERS-EXAMINING-THE-STATUS-OF-COUNTERTERRORISM-
COORDINATION-OVERSEAS.
16. See, for example: Challgren et al., “Countering Violent Extremism: A Public Health Model,” Georgetown University Center
for Security Studies National Security Critical Issues Task Force, October 2016; Eric Rosand, “Communities First: A Blueprint
for Organizing and Sustaining a Global Movement Against Violent Extremism,” The Prevention Project: Organizing Against
Violent Extremism, December 2016; National Counterterrorism Center, “2016 NCTC CVE Practitioner Workshop,” Novem-
ber 2016; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Department of Homeland Security Strategy for Countering Violent
Extremism,” October 28, 2016.
17. See, for example, U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, Correspondence: FBI Shared
Responsibility Committees Must Pass Privacy Test, 114th Cong., 2nd sess., 2016, H. Misc. Doc. https://democrats-homeland.
house.gov/news/correspondence/fbi-shared-responsibility-committees-must-pass-privacy-test
18. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Counterterror-
ism and Intelligence, Statement by Edward F. Davis, III, The Future of Counterterrorism: Addressing the Evolving Threat to
Domestic Security, 115th Cong., 1st sess., 2017, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HM/HM05/20170228/105637/HHRG-
115-HM05-Wstate-DavisE-20170228.pdf.
19. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Readout of Secretary Kelly's Meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan,” press release,
January 30, 2017, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/01/30/readout-secretary-kellys-meeting-king-abdullah-ii-jordan.
20. Greenberg et al., Case by Case: ISIS Prosecutions in the United States,” Center on National Security Fordham University
School of Law, July 2016, http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55dc76f7e4b013c872183fea/t/577c5b43197aea832bd4
86c0/1467767622315/ISIS+Report+-+Case+by+Case+-+July2016.pdf.
21. Michael Jensen, “An Empirical Assessment of Domestic Radicalization,” Lecture, Health Approaches in Community-Level
Strategies to Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization Workshop, National Academies of Sciences, Washing-
ton, D.C., September 2016, https://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/PublicHealth/
MedPrep/2016-SEPT-7/Presentations/JENSEN.pdf.
22. Nathan et al., “Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2016: An Anti-Defamation League Report,” Anti-Defa-
mation League, February 2017, http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/domestic-extremism-terrorism/c/murder-and-extrem-
ism-2016.html.
23. U.S. Cong., House of Representatives, Homeland Security Committee, “McCaul Leads Government Efforts To Counter Vio-
lent Extremism,” press release, July 9, 2015, https://homeland.house.gov/press/mccaul-leads-government-efforts-counter-
violent-extremism/.
24. “Islamist and Far-Right Homicides in the United States,” National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror-
ism, February 2017, https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_ECDB_IslamistFarRightHomicidesUS_Infographic_Feb2017.pdf.
25. Marcy Oster, Hate Crimes Against Jews Rise by 9%,” The Forward, November 15, 2016, http://forward.com/news/break-
ing-news/354468/hate-crimes-against-jews-rise-by-9/.
26. J.M. Berger, “Nazis vs. ISIS on Twitter: A Comparative Study of White Nationalist and ISIS Online Social Media Networks”
The George Washington University Program on Extremism, September 2016, https://cchs.gwu.edu/sites/cchs.gwu.edu/files/
downloads/Nazis%20v.%20ISIS%20Final_0.pdf.
27. William Parkin, Brent Klein, Jeff Gruenewald, Joshua D. Freilich, and Steven Chermak, “Extremism from both sides: What
does the research tell us about Islamist extremism and far-right extremism?,” Salon, February 22, 2017, http://www.salon.
com/2017/02/22/whats-more-dangerous-islamic-extremism-or-christian-extremism_partner/#.WK4AlfsQubY.twitter.
28. U.S. Cong., Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Violent Islamist Extremism: al-Shabaab
Recruitment in America, 111th Cong., 1st sess., March 11, 2009, https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/violent-islamist-
extremism-al-shabaab-recruitment-in-america.
29. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group, Spring 2010,” https://www.
dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hsac_cve_working_group_recommendations.pdf.
30. The White House, “Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United
States,” press release, December 8, 2011, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/sip-final.pdf.
31. The White House, “Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States,” White House Blogs, Febru-
ary 5, 2013, https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/05/working-counter-online-radicalization-violence-united-states.
32. National Counterterrorism Center. “CVE Engagement Activities,” https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/
CVE%20Engagement%20Activities-NCTC%20Classes.pdf.
33. Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes, “Countering Violent Extremism in America,” George Washington University Center for
Cyber & Homeland Security, 2015, https://cchs.gwu.edu/sites/cchs.gwu.edu/files/downloads/CVE%20in%20America%20.pdf.
34. See U.S. Cong., House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, The Road to Boston: Counterterrorism Chal-
lenges and Lessons from the Marathon Bombings: Report. 113th Cong.., 2nd sess., 2014. H. Rep. https://homeland.house.
gov/files/documents/Boston-Bombings-Report.pdf.
35. U.S. Department of State, “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013: Executive Summary,” April 2014, http://www.state.gov/j/
ct/rls/crt/2013/225328.htm.
36. U.S. Cong., House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Statement by James
Comey, Threats to the Homeland, 113th Cong,, 1st sess., 2013, https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/homeland-threats-and-
the-fbis-response.
37. Olsen, Matthew G. Statement to the Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Threats to the Home-
land, Hearing, November 14, 2013, https://www.nctc.gov/docs/2013_11_14_SHSGA_Homeland_Threat_Landscape.pdf.
38. U.S. Department of Justice, “Attorney General Holder Announces Pilot Program to Counter Violent Extremists,” Press
release, September 15, 2014, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-holder-announces-pilot-program-counter-
violent-extremists.
39. The White House, “Fact Sheet: The White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism,” Press release, February 18, 2015,
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/18/fact-sheet-white-house-summit-countering-violent
-extremism.
40. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Statement by Secretary Jeh C. Johnson on DHS’s New Office for Commu-
nity Partnerships,” September 28, 2015, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2015/09/28/statement-secretary-jeh-c-johnson-
dhs%E2%80%99s-new-office-community-partnerships; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Countering Violent
Extremism Task Force,” January 8, 2016; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Countering Violent Extremism Task
Force,” January 8, 2016, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/01/08/countering-violent-extremism-task-force.
41. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Advisory Council, “Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Sub-
committee: Interim Report and Recommendations,” June 2016, http://washin.st/2n8KQwD.
42. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Fact Sheet: FY 2016 Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grants,” July 6, 2016,
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/07/06/fy-2016-countering-violent-extremism-cve-grants; U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, “Statement by Secretary Jeh Johnson Announcing First Round of DHS’s Countering Violent Extremism Grants,”
January 13, 2017, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/01/13/statement-secretary-jeh-johnson-announcing-first-round-dhss-
countering-violent.
43. Julia Edwards Ainsley, Dustin Volz and Kristina Cooke, “Exclusive: Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on
Islam – sources,” Reuters, February 2, 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-extremists-program-exclusiv-
idUSKBN15G5VO.
44. Michelle Boorstein, “Muslim Activists Alarmed by the FBI’s New Game-like Counterterrorism Program for Kids,” The Wash-
ington Post, November 2, 2015, http://washin.st/2mc10AX.
45. Dan Frosch, “FBI’s Online Anti-Extremism Efforts Meets Resistance,” Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2016, https://www.
wsj.com/articles/fbis-online-anti-extremism-effort-meets-resistance-1476728750.
46. Hannah Adely,“Feds Drop Muslim Outreach Program Whose Counseling Teams Were Said to Have Sown Mistrust,”
NorthJersey, October 19, 2016, http://washin.st/2neKe5h.
47. Kristin McCarthy, “Is the FBI’s Flawed Intervention Program Really Cancelled?,” Arab American Institute, November 3, 2016,
http://www.aaiusa.org/is_the_fbi_s_terrorist_intervention_program_really_cancelled.
48. Jerome P. Bjelopera, “The Islamic State’s Acolytes and the Challenges They Pose to U.S. Law Enforcement,” Congressional
Research Service, April 19, 2016, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R44110.pdf.
49. Hedieh Mirahmadi, “Luncheon Keynote Address,” Global Minnesota Summit: Peacebuilding Approaches to Countering
Extremism, August 18, 2016.
50. Sarah Gilkes, “Not Just the Caliphate: Non-Islamic State-Related Jihadist Terrorism in America,” The George Washing-
ton University Program on Extremism, 2016, https://cchs.gwu.edu/sites/cchs.gwu.edu/files/downloads/Not%20Just%20
The%20Caliphate_0.pdf.
51. U.S. Department of State, “Global Engagement Center,” https://www.state.gov/r/gec/.
52. Joby Warrick, “How a U.S. team uses Facebook, guerrilla marketing to peel off potential ISIS recruits,” The Washington
Post, February 6, 2017, http://washin.st/2mbPEgl.
53. Ibid.
54. “Countering Online Radicalization in America,” National Security Program: Homeland Security Project, December 2012,
http://washin.st/2mbVE8O.
55. International Association of Chiefs of Police, “Using Community Policing to Counter Violent Extremism: Five Key Principles
for Law Enforcement,” Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2014, http://washin.st/2mKu2e9.
56. “Digital Disruption: Fighting Online Extremism,” Counter Extremism Project, https://www.counterextremism.com/digital-
disruption.
57. William McCants and Margaret Warner, “How the Islamic State group justifies brutality with an apocalyptic vision,” PBS,
November 2, 2015, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/islamic-state-group-justifies-brutality-apocalyptic-vision/.
58. Joseph Goldstein, “2 Men Charged in Bid to Make Deadly X-Ray Weapon,” The New York Times, June 19, 2013, http://
www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/nyregion/2-accused-of-trying-to-create-a-weapon.html.
59. Gary Cordner and Chad Foster, “The Impact of Terrorism on State Law Enforcement: Adjusting to New Roles and Changing
Conditions,” The Council of State Governments and Eastern Kentucky University, April 2005, http://www.csg.org/knowl-
edgecenter/docs/Misc0504Terrorism.pdf.
60. Mark Potok, “The Year in Hate and Extremism,” Southern Poverty Law Center, February 17, 2016, https://www.splcenter.
org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/year-hate-and-extremism.
61. Oren Segal and Mark Pitcavage, “From Charleston to Chattanooga: The Face of Terror in America,” Access Anti-Def-
amation League, August 12, 2015, http://blog.adl.org/extremism/from-charleston-to-chattanooga-the-face-of-terror-in-
america; Michael Martinez, “Man Who Placed Bomb on MLK Day Parade Route Sentenced to 32 Years,” CNN, December
20, 2011, http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/20/justice/washington-mlk-bomb-sentencing/
62. Wendy Gillis and Allan Woods, “What happened the night of the Quebec mosque attack,” Toronto Star, February 4, 2017,
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/02/04/what-happened-the-night-of-the-quebec-mosque-attack.html.
63. Azadeh Ansari, FBI: Hate crimes spike, most sharply against Muslims,” CNN, November 15, 2016, http://www.cnn.
com/2016/11/14/us/fbi-hate-crime-report-muslims/.
64. Amy La Porte, “Spike in hate crimes prompts special NY police unit,” CNN, November 21, 2016, http://www.cnn.
com/2016/11/20/us/hate-crime-unit-new-york/.
65. J.M. Berger, Nazis vs. ISIS on Twitter: A Comparative Study of White Nationalist and ISIS Online Social Media Networks”
The George Washington University Program on Extremism, September 2016, http://washin.st/2lM4sGl.
66. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Chattanooga Man Convicted Of Solicitation to Burn Down a Mosque
in Islamberg, New York,” press release, February 16, 2017, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chattanooga-man-convicted-
solicitation-burn-down-mosque-islamberg-new-york.
67. State of New Jersey, Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, “White Supremacist Extremists,” press release, Janu-
ary 17, 2017, https://www.njhomelandsecurity.gov/analysis/white-supremacists.
68. Charles Kurzman and David Schanzer, “Law Enforcement Assessment of the Violent Extremism Threat,” Triangle Center on
Terrorism and Homeland Security, June 2015, https://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/2013/06/Kurzman_Schanzer_Law_Enforce-
ment_Assessment_of_the_Violent_Extremist_Threat_final.pdf.
69. Summary Note, “Continuing Challenges: Exploring a Way Forward for CVE,” 2016 National Counterterrorism Center
Countering Violent Extremism Workshop, November 2-3, 2016 (cited here with permission)
70. Stevan Weine and David Eisenman, How Public Health Can Improve Initiatives to Counter Violent Extremism,” National
Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, April 5, 2016, http://www.start.umd.edu/news/how-
public-health-can-improve-initiatives-counter-violent-extremism.
71. John Cohen, “Revisiting U.S. CVE Efforts One Year After the Boston Bombing,” The Washington Institute for Near East
Policy,” March 28, 2014, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/revisiting-u.s.-cve-efforts-one-year-after-
the-boston-bombing.
72. Mark Mazzetti, Eric Lichtblau, and Alan Blinder, “Omar Mateen, Twice Scrutinized by F.B.I., Shows Threat of Lone Ter-
rorists,” The New York Times, June 13, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/orlando-shooting-omar-
mateen.html?_r=0; Ellen Nakashima, Matt Zapotosky and Mark Berman, “The FBI looked into suspected bomber Ahmad
Rahami in 2014 and found no ‘ties to terrorism’,” The Washington Post, September 20, 2016, http://washin.st/2lM0761.
73. Matthew Levitt, Olivier Decottignies, and Eric Rosand, “Terror in Europe: Combating Foreign Fighters and Homegrown
Networks” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, March 31, 2016, http://washin.st/1q6a7Fg.
74. “Some Brussels Police Stay Off Work In Wildcat Strike Action,” The Associated Press, January 6, 2017, http://washin.
st/2n8AaxG.
75. Brian H. Levin, Statement to U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counter-
terrorism and Intelligence, Terror Inmates: Countering Violent Extremism in Prison and Beyond, Hearing, October 28, 2015,
http://washin.st/2mtiCcJ.
76. Brendan I. Koerner, “Can You Turn a Terrorist Back into a Citizen?,” Wired, January 24, 2017, https://www.wired.
com/2017/01/can-you-turn-terrorist-back-into-citizen/.
77. Kelly A. Berkell, “Off-Ramp Opportunities in Material Support Cases,” Harvard National Security Journal, Vol. 8, 2017,
http://harvardnsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1.-Berkell.pdf.
78. Council of the European Union, Presidency and Counterterrorism Coordinator, “The European Union Counterterrorism Strat-
egy,” November 30, 2005, http://washin.st/2muUOGP.
79. Council of the European Union, Presidency, “Revised EU Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment to Terror-
ism,” May 19, 2014, http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9956-2014-INIT/en/pdf.
80. European Commission, “Communication from the Commission to The European Parliament, The Council, The European
Economic and Social Committee And The Committee Of The Regions: Supporting the prevention of radicalisation lead-
ing to violent extremism,” June 14, 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/library/publica-
tions/2016/communication-preventing-radicalisation_en.pdf.
81. European Commission, “The Radicalisation Awareness Network,” Office of Migration and Home Affairs, November 9,
2016, https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-library/docs/fight-against-radicalisation/radicalisation_
awareness_network_09112016_en.pdf.
82. Hedieh Mirahmadi, “Building Resilience against Violent Extremism: A CommunityBased Approach,” Annals, American Acad-
emy of Political and Social Science, 668, 129-144, November 2016, http://www.worde.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/
The-Annals-of-the-American-Academy-of-Political-and-Social-BRAVE-publication.pdf.
83. Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, Matthew Levitt, and Hedieh Mirahmadi, “The Battle of Ideas 2.0: Combating ISIS Ideology
at Home and Abroad,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, December 16, 2014, http://www.washingtoninstitute.
org/policy-analysis/view/the-battle-of-ideas-2.0-combating-isis-ideology-at-home-and-abroad.
84. “Ka Joog: Enriching the Lives of Somali-American Youth,” http://www.kajoog.org/.
85. “Life After Hate,” http://www.lifeafterhate.org/.
86. Michael Jensen and Gary LaFree, “Final Report: Empirical Assessment of Domestic Radicalization (EADR),” U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, December 2016, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250481.pdf.
87. Joumana Silyan-Saba and Alejandro Beutel, “CVE Field Principles for Local Government Agencies,” National Consortium
for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism,” December 6, 2016, http://www.start.umd.edu/news/cve-field-prin-
ciples-local-government-agencies.
88. Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes, “ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa,” The George Washington University Pro-
gram on Extremism, December 2015, http://washin.st/2lM13HP.
89. Alejandro Beutel and Peter Weinberger, “Public-Private Partnerships to Counter Violent Extremism: Field Principles for
Action: Report to the U.S. Department of State,” National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism,
July 2016, http://washin.st/2noiDO9.
90. Eric Rosand and Alistair Millar, “Can Trump Harness the Private Sector to Stop Violent Extremism?,” Lawfare, January 29,
2017, https://lawfareblog.com/can-trump-harness-private-sector-stop-violent-extremism.
91. Abby Simons, “Education, mentoring key in anti-terror recruiting project,” Minnesota Star Tribune,” September 9, 2015,
http://www.startribune.com/education-mentoring-key-in-anti-terror-recruiting-project/325897001/.
92. See Michael J. Williams, John G. Horgan and William P. Evans, “Evaluation of a Multi-Faceted, U.S. Community-Based,
Muslim-Led CVE Program,” June 2016 https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/249936.pdf.
93. See Administration for Children and Families, 2016, “Family Violence Prevention and Services Program,” https://www.acf.
hhs.gov/fysb/programs/family-violence-prevention-services/about; U.S. Department of Education, “Project Prevent Grant
Program,” 84.184M, http://washin.st/2m9Zbnh.
94. Department of Homeland Security, “Protective Security Advisor Program,” May 2015, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/
files/publications/PSA-Program-Fact-Sheet-05-15-508.pdf.
95. The United States Conference of Mayors, 2017, “Criminal and Social Justice,” https://www.usmayors.org/category/commit-
tees/criminal-and-social-justice/.
96. National Governors Association, 2015, “Homeland Security & Public Safety Division,” https://www.nga.org/cms/center/hsps.
97. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, “Terrorism,” http://www.nctsnet.org/trauma-types/terrorism; U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, “Mental Health
Response to Mass Violence and Terrorism: A Training Manual,” Rockville, MD: Center for Mental Health Services, 2004,
http://washin.st/2nokfHR.
98. Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2016, “Community Emergency Response Teams,” https://www.fema.gov/com-
munity-emergency-response-teams.
99. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “FBI Counterterrorism Fly Team Training,” https://www.fbi.gov/image-repository/fbi-coun-
terterrorism-fly-team-training.jpg/view.
1111 19 T H S T R E E T N W • W A S H I N G T O N , D C 2 0 0 3 6 • W W W. W A S H I N G TO N I N S T I T U T E . O R G

Violent Extremism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Violent Extremism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Violent Extremism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

TRANSITION 2017

POLICY NOTES FOR THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

DEFEATING IDEOLOGICALLY INSPIRED

“This bipartisan Washington Institute report on preventing and countering violent

TH E WA SH I N GTON I NSTITUTE FOR N E A R E A ST POLIC Y ■ NO. 37 ■ M A RCH 2017

Preface Here in the homeland, the FBI reports it is running

need for CVE to become more of a whole-

journalists and academic commu-

Foreign Fighters, Public Safety Threats

in IS-controlled territory and as mate-

II. STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS

III.. STRUCTURAL RECOMMENDATIONS

STUDY GROUP MEMBERS

51. U.S. Department of State, “Global Engagement Center,” https://www.state.gov/r/gec/.

84. “Ka Joog: Enriching the Lives of Somali-American Youth,” http://www.kajoog.org/.

85. “Life After Hate,” http://www.lifeafterhate.org/.

You might also like

Violent Extremism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Violent Extremism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Violent Extremism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

TRANSITION 2017

POLICY NOTES FOR THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

DEFEATING IDEOLOGICALLY INSPIRED

“This bipartisan Washington Institute report on preventing and countering violent

TH E WA SH I N GTON I NSTITUTE FOR N E A R E A ST POLIC Y ■ NO. 37 ■ M A RCH 2017

Preface Here in the homeland, the FBI reports it is running

need for CVE to become more of a whole-

journalists and academic commu-

Foreign Fighters, Public Safety Threats

in IS-controlled territory and as mate-

II. STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS

III.. STRUCTURAL RECOMMENDATIONS

STUDY GROUP MEMBERS

51. U.S. Department of State, “Global Engagement Center,” https://www.state.gov/r/gec/.

84. “Ka Joog: Enriching the Lives of Somali-American Youth,” http://www.kajoog.org/.

85. “Life After Hate,” http://www.lifeafterhate.org/.

You might also like

“This bipartisan Washington Institute report on preventing and countering violent